Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Attorney General Linda Singer filed a petition on Monday for a full review of last month’s decision that struck down the District’s gun ban.
In late March, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District voted 2 to 1 that the 1976 D.C. law preventing citizens from keeping handguns in their homes violates the Second Amendment. District officials have opposed this decision, claiming that the ban does not violate constitutional rights.
The D.C. government has the option of appealing to the Supreme Court, but the Attorney General “wants to give the District Courts the opportunity to review the case again,” according to Traci Hughes, a spokesperson for the D.C. Attorney’s Office.
If the Court decides to grant the appeal, oral arguments will not be heard for several months and the 1976 law will be followed until the final adjudication is handed down in the upcoming months.
