WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, is an original cosponsor of the Second Amendment Enforcement Act which was introduced today in the House of Representatives.  This legislation ensures that all Americans can enjoy the protections and freedoms afforded by the Second Amendment, even if they live in the District of Columbia.

“For more than 30 years, our Nation’s Capital provided a lesson in the value of the Second Amendment,” said Rehberg a member of the elite House Second Amendment Task Force.  “The irony of suspending constitutional rights in the one city most responsible for upholding those rights is not lost on me.  In Washington, D.C., residents found out that if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them.”

Rehberg, who has earned an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association, celebrated the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision to overturn the District’ firearms ban.  Unfortunately, after the outright ban was overturned, the city council imposed draconian gun control laws that have made legally purchasing and registering a firearm virtually impossible. 

The Second Amendment Enforcement Act will repeal the District’s ban on semi-automatic handguns, repeal the requirement that firearms be disassembled or secured with a trigger lock in the home, and reform the current D.C. registration system that requires multiple visits to police headquarters, ballistics testing, fingerprinting, a written test and limited registration to one handgun per 90 days.  The bill also increases civil liability protections for gun owners whose firearms are stolen from their homes.

“The Supreme Court made the right decision in D.C. v. Heller, and it’s up to Congress to prevent the continued denial of this Constitutional Right to District residents,” said Rehberg.