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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia 
Personal Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Second Amendment to the United 
States Constitution provides that the right of the 
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. 
(2) The Second Amendment to the United 
States Constitution protects the rights of individ-
uals, including those who are not members of a mili-
tia or engaged in military service or training, to 
keep and bear arms. 
(3) The law-abiding citizens of the District of 
Columbia are deprived by local laws of handguns, ri-
fles, and shotguns that are commonly kept by law-
abiding persons throughout the rest of the United 
States for sporting use and for lawful defense of 
persons, homes, and families. 
(4) The District of Columbia has the highest 
per capita murder rate in the Nation, which may be 
attributed in part to local laws prohibiting posses-
sion of firearms by law-abiding persons who would 
otherwise be able to defend themselves and their 
loved ones in their own homes and businesses.
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(5) The Federal Gun Control Act of 1968, as 
amended by the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 
1986, and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention 
Act of 1993, provide comprehensive Federal regula-
tions applicable in the District of Columbia as else-
where. In addition, existing District of Columbia 
criminal laws punish possession and illegal use of 
firearms by violent criminals and felons. Con-
sequently, there is no need for local laws which only 
disarm law-abiding citizens. 
(6) Legislation is required to correct the Dis-
trict of Columbia’s law in order to restore the rights 
of its citizens under the Second Amendment to the 
United States Constitution and thereby enhance 
public safety. 
SEC. 3. REFORM D.C. COUNCIL’S AUTHORITY TO RESTRICT 
FIREARMS. 
Section 4 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to prohibit the 
killing of wild birds and wild animals in the District of 
Columbia’’, approved June 30, 1906 (34 Stat. 809; sec. 
1–303.43, D.C. Official Code) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: ‘‘This section shall not be construed 
to permit the Council, the Mayor, or any governmental 
or regulatory authority of the District of Columbia to pro-
hibit, constructively prohibit, or unduly burden the ability
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of persons otherwise permitted to possess firearms under 
Federal law from acquiring, possessing in their homes or 
businesses, or using for sporting, self-protection or other 
lawful purposes, any firearm neither prohibited by Federal 
law nor regulated by the National Firearms Act. The Dis-
trict of Columbia shall not have authority to enact laws 
or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private 
ownership or use of firearms.’’. 
SEC. 4. REPEAL D.C. SEMIAUTOMATIC BAN. 
Section 101(10) of the Firearms Control Regulations 
Act of 1975 (sec. 7–2501.01(10), D.C. Official Code) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(10) Machine gun means any firearm which 
shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily con-
verted or restored to shoot automatically, more than 
1 shot by a single function of the trigger.’’. 
SEC. 5. REPEAL REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 201(a) of the Firearms 
Control Regulations Act of 1975 (sec. 7–2502.01(a), D.C. 
Official Code) is amended by striking ‘‘any firearm, un-
less’’ and all that follows through paragraph (3) and in-
serting the following: ‘‘any firearm described in subsection 
(c).’’. 
(b) DESCRIPTION OF FIREARMS REMAINING ILLE-
GAL.—Section 201 of such Act (sec. 7–2502.01, D.C. Offi-
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cial Code) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(c) A firearm described in this subsection is any of 
the following: 
‘‘(1) A sawed-off shotgun. 
‘‘(2) A machine gun. 
‘‘(3) A short-barreled rifle.’’. 
SEC. 6. REPEAL HANDGUN AMMUNITION BAN. 
Section 601 of the Firearms Control Regulations Act 
of 1975 (sec. 7–2506.01, D.C. Official Code) is repealed. 
SEC. 7. RESTORE RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE IN THE HOME. 
Section 702 of the Firearms Control Regulations Act 
of 1975 (sec. 7–2507.02, D.C. Official Code) is repealed. 
SEC. 8. ADDITIONAL REPEALS. 
Sections 202 through 211 of the Firearms Control 
Regulations Act of 1975 (secs. 7–2502.02 through 7–
2502.11, D.C. Official Code) are repealed. 
SEC. 9. REMOVE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR POSSESSION 
OF UNREGISTERED FIREARMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 706 of the Firearms Con-
trol Regulations Act of 1975 (sec. 7–2507.06, D.C. Offi-
cial Code) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘that:’’ and all that follows 
through ‘‘(1) A’’ and inserting ‘‘that a’’; and 
(2) by striking paragraph (2).
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(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to violations occur-
ring after the 60-day period which begins on the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 10. REMOVE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CARRYING A 
FIREARM IN ONE’S DWELLING OR OTHER 
PREMISES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4(a) of the Act of July 
8, 1932 (47 Stat. 651; sec. 22—4504(a), D.C. Official 
Code) is amended—
(1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by 
striking ‘‘a pistol,’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘ex-
cept in his dwelling house or place of business or on 
other land possessed by that person, whether loaded 
or unloaded, a firearm,’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘except that:’’ and all that fol-
lows through ‘‘(2) If the violation’’ and inserting 
‘‘except that if the violation’’. 
(b) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS.—Section 
5(a) of such Act (47 Stat. 651; sec. 22—4505(a), D.C. 
Official Code) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘pistol’’ each place it appears 
and inserting ‘‘firearm’’; and 
(2) by striking the period at the end and insert-
ing the following: ‘‘, or to any person while carrying
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or transporting a firearm used in connection with an 
organized military activity, a target shoot, formal or 
informal target practice, sport shooting event, hunt-
ing, a firearms or hunter safety class, trapping, or 
a dog obedience training class or show, or the mov-
ing by a bona fide gun collector of part or all of the 
collector’s gun collection from place to place for pub-
lic or private exhibition while the person is engaged 
in, on the way to, or returning from that activity if 
each firearm is unloaded and carried in an enclosed 
case or an enclosed holster, or to any person car-
rying or transporting a firearm in compliance with 
sections 926A, 926B or 926C of title 18, United 
States Code.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply with respect to violations occurring 
after the 60-day period which begins on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives September 29, 
2004. 
Attest: 
JEFF TRANDAHL, 
Clerk.