WASHINGTON: Plagued by high homicide rates, city officials in the U.S. capital said Monday they will petition the Supreme Court as they seek to defend Washington's 30-year-old ban on most handguns. A federal appeals court panel struck down the law in March, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which upholds people's right to bear arms, applied only to militias. The full appeals court refused to reconsider the decision in May. The law has remained in effect during the appeals process.
"We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended," Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said in a statement Monday.
Washington's gun law dates back to 1976, and bars residents from keeping handguns in their homes and carrying a gun without a license. Registered firearms must be kept unloaded and disassembled. The city's sweeping gun ban is matched only by Chicago among large U.S. cities.
If the high court takes up the case, it would mark the first time in 70 years that justices will consider the breadth of the Second Amendment. In 2003, the court chose not to take a case that challenged California's ban on assault weapons.
America's return to Gilded AgeDemocrats sounding populist notes on economicsU.S. general warns against early withdrawal from IraqD.C. officials say the laws are necessary in a city that has been plagued by high homicide rates. But opponents of the law, including the National Rifle Association, argue the laws strip citizens of the right to protect themselves against crime.