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Gun owners arm themselves with advocacy group

Aim to loosen strict D.C. law

By David C. Lipscomb THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Thursday, August 7, 2008

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As the District prepares to fight double-barreled attempts to loosen its gun-control laws, some of the city's gun rights pioneers have done what folks in Washington do best — they have formed a lobbying group.

About a dozen residents have pledged their support to Capital Gun Owners, a new D.C.-based gun advocacy and education group headed by Northwest resident Amy McVey.

"We're at a point where we're feeling our way here," said Mrs. McVey, who was the first D.C. resident to register a handgun after the District's 32-year-old ban on handguns was struck down by the Supreme Court in June. "I'm sure our mission will evolve as needed."

The group includes co-founders George Lyon and Gillian St. Lawrence, who were among the six plaintiffs in the initial challenge to the District's handgun ban in 2003, which led to the District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court case.

Mrs. McVey said the four-day-old group will lobby for less gun control and provide residents with gun-education resources as more of them seek to own guns.

The formation of the group comes as the District is taking fire from two sides — U.S. District Court and Congress — on its still-rigid gun-control laws.

On July 28, Dick Anthony Heller, who won his case in the Supreme Court, and two others filed a challenge against the city's ban on semiautomatic weapons, which it defines as machine guns.

This week, the House of Representatives agreed to vote next month on a bill that would repeal the ban and eliminate registration requirements for people who pass federal licensing standards.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C. Democrat, opposes the bill. She said it treads on home rule in the District and would be detrimental to the city's crime-fighting efforts.

Mrs. McVey said the group's top priorities are lobbying the District to lift its ban on semiautomatic handguns, allow residents to carry handguns outside of the home, streamline or eliminate firearm registration and lobby Congress to allow D.C. residents to buy handguns in Maryland and Virginia.