FMK 9C1 (via FMK Firearms)

Mayor Vince Gray today spoke in defense of D.C.’s gun laws, a day after a Virginia man allegedly opened fire at the Gallery Place headquarters of the Family Research Council. “I’m proud of the gun laws in the District of Columbia,” he said on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt. “I will work hard to preserve our gun control laws.”

D.C. residents have been able to legally own handguns for use in their homes since the 2008 Supreme Court Heller ruling, though no gun stores exist in the city and there’s only one federally licensed gun transfer agent that can receive and register a gun after it is purchased outside the city. (The D.C. Council recently passed legislation simplifying the registration process.) Gun rights advocates have criticized the regulations, though two courts have said that they withstand constitutional muster.

Shooting suspect Floyd Lee Corkins II was said to have purchased his gun legally in Virginia, which recently lifted a prohibition on the purchase of more then one gun per month. Gray said that easing restrictions on the sale and ownership of guns “opens up opportunities for untoward activities.”

Gray also spoke out against a new billboard on Massachusetts Avenue NW promoting a Virginia shooting range. “It just promotes guns,” he said. “We don’t need to make guns more available to people…the more access they have, the more they threaten people.”