Federal appeals court panel rules in favor of D.C. gun law

A federal appeals court panel on Tuesday upheld the District’s authority to impose a system of handgun registration and rejected a challenge to the city’s ban on semiautomatic assault rifles and large-capacity ammunition clips. The 2-to-1 decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District leaves in place the gun-ownership regulations passed by the D.C. Council after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2008 ended the city’s decades-old handgun ban. Calling the ruling “an important victory for the District of Columbia,” Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said it “upholds our government’s authority to pass reasonable gun laws.” “It supports the registration requirements as well as the bans on assault weapons and large magazines — each of which are key components of the District’s battle against violent crime,” the mayor said in a statement. Although the opinion sided with the city on the issues of assault rifles and ammunition clips and ruled that the District can require handgun registration, the judges did not back every provision of the registration law. For example, gun registrants are required to submit their firearms to police for test firing so ballistics records can be kept. They also must agree to be photographed and fingerprinted by police, pass vision and gun-knowledge tests and undergo periodic background checks to maintain their registrations. The panel ordered the District Court to hold more hearings on those provisions and others to determine whether they are necessary for public safety. Meanwhile, the requirements will remain in effect...more

The opinion is here.