Supporters of legislation that would give the District of Columbia a full seat in the House of Representatives temporarily postponed a vote on the measure Thursday after a Republican legislator attempted to use it as a way of weakening the District's gun restriction laws, according to The Washington Post.
The decision to temporarily withdraw the measure came near the end of more than three hours of debate. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, proposed adding language to the bill that would repeal or severely limit the District's controversial handgun ownership laws, which the Democratic House leadership feared would lead some members of their caucus to vote with the Republicans. They postponed further action on the bill in an effort to rethink their strategy, according to The Post.
The bill's supporters told The Post they intend to return the measure to the House floor in a few days with added rules to prevent a similar situation from occurring again.
"It's a motion to shoot the bill dead," Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said. "These people are trying to kill voting rights for the people of the District of Columbia."
The Post reported that Smith's move was the Republicans' most recent attempt at curtailing the District's current gun laws, which The Post referred to as being "among the strictest in the country"
