White House supports Democrat-backed D.C. gun bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday endorsed a bill, backed by scores of Democratic lawmakers worried about getting re-elected in pro-gun districts, that would repeal gun laws in the U.S. capital.

Designed in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a gun ban in the District of Columbia, the measure would repeal the city's gun registration system and make it easier for residents to buy semiautomatic weapons.

A day after D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier tangled with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, warning that the bill would make it tougher to protect the public as well as the new president at January's inauguration, the White House touted the measure.

"We support the bill," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "It guarantees the constitutional rights of District residents to keep and bear arms, and we urge the House and the Senate to take action as quickly as possible."

The Democratic-led House of Representatives, with plenty of support from President George W. Bush's fellow Republicans, is expected to pass the bill next week.

But the measure is not expected to get through the Democratic-led Senate before this Congress draws to a close by the end of the year.

While the district has its own city government, Congress helps provide oversight of the capital city and controls a good deal of its financing.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that individual Americans have a right to own firearms. The 5-4 decision rejected the argument that the constitutional right to bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

The capital city, which traditionally votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has said it should be allowed to rewrite its own laws and not have them dictated by Congress.

Yet the bill has won the backing of nearly 50 House Democrats, many of them vulnerable in November's congressional elections.

The National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, backs the bill.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, denounced the legislation earlier on Wednesday.

"Our nation has spent billions of dollars to strengthen homeland security since the horrible attacks of September 11, and it makes no sense to adopt reckless proposals that would make dangerous weapons widely available in the nation's capital," Waxman said at a committee meeting on the bill.

In introducing the bill in July with bipartisan support, Rep. Travis Childers, a Mississippi Democrat, said it would overturn new D.C. gun laws that defy the Supreme Court's decision.

"I will continue to fight for the constitutional rights of Mississippians and all Americans," Childers said.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Kristin Roberts and Eric Beech)