From the AP via FindLaw.com: D.C. to appeal its right to ban unlicensed handguns to the Supreme Court:
Plagued by high homicide rates, 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.
“The handgun ban in the District of Columbia has saved many lives since then and will continue to do so if it remains enforced,” he added.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier said 75 of Washington’s 97 homicides this year were committed with firearms.
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.
[…]
D.C. officials say the law is necessary in a city that has been plagued by high homicide rates.
Are these people dense? 77.3% of your homicides are committed with firearms and you think the ban is working? You have had some of the highest murder rates per capita anywhere and you want to continue with a policy that bans firearms from law abiding citizens? Bravo, D.C., bravo.