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District of Columbia Counciol Approves 'Sweeping' Ordinance On Gun Ownership

By David Badertscher, PLL

pfont size=2strongSource: /strongemCrime and Justice News, /emDecember 17, 2008./font/p#13; pfont size=2Six months after the Supreme Court put an end to the District of Columbia's decades-old ban on handgun possession, the City Council in Washington passed a sweeping new ordinance on Tuesday to regulate gun ownership, reports the New York Times. The legislation would require all gun owners to receive five hours of safety training and to register their firearms every three years. In addition, they would have to undergo a criminal background check every six years. /font/p#13; pfont size=2Councilman Phil Mendelson, who helped draft the bill and shepherd it through the Council, called it a 'very significant piece of legislation that borrows best practices from other states.' Opponents said the legislation flew in the face of the Supreme Court ruling in June. 'The D.C. Council continues to try to make it harder and harder for law-abiding citizens to access this freedom,' Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, told The Associated Press. Since the Supreme Court struck down the district's handgun ban, the council had stitched together a series of emergency measures to regulate gun ownership. Those included allowing residents to keep handguns in their homes, but only if they were used for self-defense. /font/p#13; pa href=http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001I0HzUilaevnWutatKBJ-poZ_PBcgvyQUU8OfjOjemmLz_-MXyPr0FSXr1osQW2C5T5AxdAIwpk75fWe9A7zSlbO0XJuH5Po8MGgxwZjFIzsnFRYXCeaZVvvjxoIixYNguLWV7twxHHZjCeE3phwj7vHgu8MrzybaSkQjhm25igI= shape=rect color=#0000FF target=_blankfont size=2New York Times/font/a/p

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).