FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 25, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison: Democrats Block DC Gun Ban Bill
Offers House-Passed Bill by Unanimous Consent, Blocked by Majority
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Texas’s senior Senator, today pushed legislation, which was overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives last week, to affirm the second amendment rights for all D.C. residents but was blocked by Senate Democrats.
“Today Senate Democrats denied D.C. residents their second amendment rights,” said Sen. Hutchison. “Last week the House passed the bill by an overwhelming margin. In June the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision that the D.C. Gun Ban was unconstitutional. It’s time for the will of the bipartisan majority of the Senate to pass legislation affirming the second amendment rights for all D.C. residents.”
Last week Sen. Hutchison sent a letter that was also signed by 46 Senators to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asking that he allow a vote before the end of the 110th Congress on legislation that codifies the Supreme Court ruling in DC v. Heller.
On September 17, 2008, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed, by a vote of 266-152, H.R. 6842, the National Capital Security and Safety Act, which returns second amendment rights to the residents of the District of Columbia.
On February 8, Sen. Hutchison filed an amicus brief in the case of D.C. v. Heller in favor of the respondent who simply wished to exercise his Constitutional right to protect himself in his home. The brief affirmed that the legislative branch believes that the Second Amendment is an individual right. The brief was signed by a bipartisan majority of Congress, including 55 Senators, the Vice President as President of the Senate, and 250 Members of the House of Representatives.
Sen. Hutchison and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) gathered the greatest number of signers on a brief to the Supreme Court in history. Sen. Hutchison believed it was important for members of the legislative branch to give its opinion on the legislative history and its relevance.
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