D.C. leaders, Congress spar on gun control

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An effort in the U.S. House of Representatives to curtail District of Columbia officials' ability to regulate guns in the city goes too far, city leaders say.

Just as the District of Columbia Council voted Tuesday to change its gun laws to comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, city leaders were decrying a bipartisan effort in the U.S. House to scrap almost all of its local gun laws, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The District council voted unanimously Tuesday to ease some of the more contentious parts of its 32-year-old handgun ban, saying they would comply with a historic June High Court ruling interpreting the Second Amendment as granting individuals the right to own firearms.

But city leaders panned a move led by U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, D-Miss., to entirely remake the District's gun laws, an action they say is being done to curry favor with the National Rifle Association ahead of the November congressional elections, the Post reported.

"Let our elected officials make these decisions for the people we are elected to represent," said Council Member Carol Schwartz, denouncing what she called "congressional trampling of our local prerogatives."