Del. Norton on the left, Rep. Massie on the right.

Del. Norton on the left, Rep. Massie on the right.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Vince Gray slammed a House Republican lawmaker’s attempt to block the enforcement of D.C.’s gun laws at a press conference today as he watched on.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky successfully introduced an amendment to a House appropriations bill that would prevent D.C. from spending local funds to enforce four local gun laws. Norton said the amendment is “fraught with confusion” and the vague language — “some of it laughable” — makes it “almost impossible to enforce.”

Indeed, city officials say it’s unclear what the consequences of Massie’s amendment would be for the city. In some instances, it appears gun laws would become more restrictive while others would become looser.

“On its face, the Massie amendment is incapable of straightforward enforcement without inviting complicated litigation that could go on for many years,” she said.

The amendment is attached to the same House appropriations bill that Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland added his own amendment to, blocking the implementation of D.C.’s marijuana decriminalization law.

Norton said she will “move immediately, taking all necessary steps” to ensure the amendment does not survive the Senate, adding that she’s spoken with a White House official about it.

As he looked on, Norton imagined what Massie would say to his constituents: “Rep. Thomas Massie is going to be able to go home to Kentucky and say, ‘Guess what I’ve just done for the people of Kentucky? I’ve passed an amendment to overturn the gun laws in the District of Columbia.'”

But Norton says, if a member of Congress wants to overturn one of D.C.’s laws, there’s only one way to do it: Introduce a bill and get it passed through the proper channels. She also pointed out that D.C.’s gun laws have survived four federal challenges. This includes a recent challenge to the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, where a federal judge found that D.C.’s gun registration laws are legal.

Mayor Vincent Gray invoked civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired of having to make these pilgrimages up to Congress … to overcome treatment that I think is unfair, that’s untenable, that’s unconscionable. It’s un-American, it’s unneeded and it’s unwanted.”

Gray pointed to a decline in violence crime and robberies, although he did not mention the rise in homicides this year. He also pointed to the Navy Yard shooting, “when someone with mental health challenges, someone brought a gun into the District of Columbia. … That gun was not purchased in the District of Columbia. … It came from Virginia.”

The outgoing mayor called the amendment a “step backwards” and said it’s “shameful that we have to continue to fight off these incursions,” rather than focusing on bringing “real democracy” to the people of D.C.

Alfred Durham, an assistant chief with the Metropolitan Police Department, said Massie’s amendment would “create fear and havoc in our communities.”

While Brian Malte from the Brady Campaign urged Massie to take care of his own state’s gun laws, Massie exited the room for a vote and told reporters that the Heller decision has made D.C. safer as it’s given residents more access to guns.

Durham rejected that interpretation, saying the efforts of MPD have made the city safer. “We want responsible adult gun ownership and through Heller that’s what we have,” he said.

“He hasn’t been taking care of the people of Kentucky,” Norton said of Massie. “Unfortunately, he didn’t understand that he couldn’t technically do it.”

According to reporters, however, Massie does seem to know his amendment isn’t going anywhere.

Filed Under: appropriations bill, eleanor holmes norton, gun control laws, thomas massie,