Photo by Samer Farha.

The District might be readying to register handguns inside its police headquarters, but those looking to legally get a hold of a semi-automatic rifle are still out of luck. This morning, a three-judge panel voted to uphold a ruling that the District’s ban on such weapons and large-capacity magazines is constitutional.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit voted to uphold the lower court’s ruling, 2-1. In the majority opinion, Judge Douglas Ginsburg stated that the city had successfully “carried its burden of showing a substantial relationship between the prohibition of both semi-automatic rifles and magazines holding more than ten rounds and the objectives of protecting police officers and controlling crime.” GInsburg was joined by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson in his opinion; Judge Brett Kavanaugh was the lone dissenter.

D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), who chairs the body’s committee on the Judiciary, called the Appeals Court decision “good.”

“After the Heller decision, there was a lot of criticism that all we were doing was thumbing our noses at the Supreme Court,” said Mendelson. “I think we worked hard to try and find a moderate line that retains gun regulations and at the same time allows people to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

With the decision, the courts again affirmed approval of most of the gun regulations which the District passed in 2008 after the Supreme Court ruled that a complete ban on handguns was unconstitutional.

“At most, maybe some tinkering is required,” said Mendelson about the current laws.