Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Representative Phil Gingrey of Georgia filed a National Defense Authorization bill amendment that was included in en…”

“Representative Phil Gingrey of Georgia filed a National Defense Authorization bill amendment that was included in en bloc amendments expressing the sense of the Congress that Active Duty military personnel in their private capacity should be exempt from the gun laws of the District of Columbia, but not those of any other State or locality. This antidemocratic amendment continues a pattern of Republican assault on D.C.'s local rights and gun safety laws. But we have shown we know how to fight back. We defeated the Gingrey amendment last Congress, and we will work with our Senate allies to defeat it again. Today, after Newtown, when there have been serious attempts to toughen gun laws across the country and even here in the Congress, the Gingrey amendment goes in the opposite direction and attempts to use Active Duty personnel to further his own gun agenda. Rather than addressing the needs of his own Georgia constituents, Phil Gingrey is spending his time meddling in a district more than 600 miles away from his. If there were a problem involving guns and our Active Duty military, he would not target only the District of Columbia. The District will not be used to further the agenda of Members of Congress unaccountable to our residents. We particularly resent being used as fodder by a Member in his campaign for the Senate. ____________________”