manifold
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
Gun law dispute sinks voting rights bill for DC - Yahoo! News
I've always thought it was bullshit how unrelated amendments get attached to a piece of legislation. I understand it, but I still don't like it.
And what's with DC not having to abide by a SCOTUS ruling anyway???
WASHINGTON For some residents of the nation's capital, a bill to give them a voting member of Congress wasn't worth the price: severely weakened gun laws.
"As much as I want the vote in the city, I think the gun ban is hugely important," said Betsy Cutler, 41, a paralegal who lives in Adams Morgan, a neighborhood of bars and restaurants where she has heard gunfire more than once.
House members had been expected to vote this week on a bill that would have granted, for the first time, the District of Columbia's 600,000 residents a voting representative. But politicians said Tuesday they had decided to pull the measure, calling an amendment supported by the National Rifle Association destructive to D.C.'s gun laws.
The NRA pushed to bar the city from prohibiting or interfering with the public carrying of firearms, either concealed or openly. Opponents said the amendment would have made it easy for people to carry firearms without permits and would have stopped D.C. from prohibiting guns in city-controlled buildings.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said the measure was needed because the city has not complied with a 2008 Supreme Court ruling requiring it to revise its gun laws.
I've always thought it was bullshit how unrelated amendments get attached to a piece of legislation. I understand it, but I still don't like it.
And what's with DC not having to abide by a SCOTUS ruling anyway???