The Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 was passed by the
District of Columbia
)
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city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
on June 29, 1976, and went into effect September 24, 1976. The law banned residents from owning
handguns,
automatic firearms, or high-capacity
semi-automatic firearms, as well as prohibited possession of unregistered
firearms. Exceptions to the ban were allowed for
police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s and guns registered before 1976. The law also required firearms kept in the home to be "unloaded, disassembled, or bound by a
trigger lock
Gun safety is the study and practice of using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms and ammunition, including the training of gun users, the design of weapons, and formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and u ...
or similar device"; this was deemed to be a prohibition on the use of firearms for self-defense in the home.
[
] On June 26, 2008, in the historic case of ''
District of Columbia v. Heller'', the
Supreme Court of the United States determined that the ban and trigger lock provisions violate the
Second Amendment
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
.
Constitutionality
Washington, D.C.
)
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's gun laws are considered by many to be the strictest in the United States, and have been challenged as infringing on
constitutional
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these prin ...
rights protected by the
United States Constitution's
Second Amendment
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
. On March 9, 2007, portions of the law were declared unconstitutional by a three-judge panel of the
United States Court of Appeals
United may refer to:
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* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
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, in a 2-1 ruling in the case
District of Columbia v. Heller. After the District's application for a rehearing
en banc
In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller p ...
was denied, it appealed the decision to the
Supreme Court of the United States. On June 26, 2008, the Court determined that the ban and trigger lock provision violate the Second Amendment. However, the ruling does not prohibit all forms of
gun control; laws requiring firearm registration remain in place as does the city's
assault weapon
In the United States, ''assault weapon'' is a controversial term used to define firearms with specified characteristics. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions, but usually includes semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magaz ...
ban.
See also
*
Crime in Washington, D.C.
*
District of Columbia home rule
District of Columbia home rule is Washington, D.C. residents' ability to govern their local affairs. As the federal capital, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever" ...
* ''
District of Columbia v. Heller''
*
Gun politics in the United States
*
Warren v. District of Columbia
''Warren v. District of Columbia'' (444 A.2d. 1, D.C. Ct. of Ap. 1981) is a District of Columbia Court of Appeals case that held that the police do not owe a specific duty to provide police services to specific citizens based on the Duty to rescue ...
External links
Text of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975
References
{{reflist, 30em
History of Washington, D.C.
United States firearms law