Report: Congress Urged to Move Carefully on DC Gun Ban

CNSNews.com reported last week that attorneys representing six D.C. residents
in the high-profile Second Amendment Parker case are warning that attempts by "well-meaning members of Congress" to
repeal the 1976 Washington, D.C., gun ban could
backfire by keeping the case out of the U.S. Supreme Court.

From the story:

"We appreciate that the Second Amendment's many
friends in Congress want to express themselves on the
D.C. gun ban, and there are ways in which Congress can
have a tremendously positive impact," said Alan Gura,
lead counsel in Parker v. District of Columbia, which
challenged the 1976 D.C. gun ban.

But "Congress has to act very carefully," Gura told
Cybercast News Service after a panel discussion of the
case.

"A congressional repeal of the D.C. gun ban right now
could erase the recent court victory," he said,
referring to the March 9 ruling by U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia that said the
Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep
and bear arms.

"All of our hard work would be wasted," Gura warned.

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Again, from the story:

"We have to work with the members of Congress to make
sure that if they want to express themselves
legislatively on the D.C. gun ban, they can do so in a
way that preserves the issue for litigation, Gura
said.

Gura told the Cybercast News Service that he and Levy met on Thursday with
leaders from the National Rifle Association, "which
had been pushing this legislation" to eliminate the
D.C. gun ban, but "we believe that they've seen the
light. They've given us their assurances that they are
not interested in ruining the case."

"And [NRA President] Wayne LaPierre told us we can
take that to the bank," Gura is quoted as saying.

However, "the anti-gun people are a different story,"
he told CNSNews.com. "We have gotten word that at least one
group is now trying to push for a legislative appeal
because, frankly, they don't want this in the Supreme
Court, and the reason they don't want this in the
Supreme Court is because they're going to lose."

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