Those of us who have fought gun control for decades have to admit that the concept comes in handy on occasion.  Yesterday, for instance, the House rejected an unconstitutional bill granting DC a voting Representative (and one for Utah for partisan balance) that passed the Senate last week — with an amendment that allowed DC residents easier access to firearms.  The district’s non-voting representative, Eleanor Holmes-Norton, used the occasion to attack pro-gun Democrats while the bill languished:

The Senate approved a similar bill to give the District voting representation. And approval in the House seemed all but assured. But an amendment attached to the Senate version of the legislation by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., created problems in the House.

Ensign’s amendment would give Washington residents better access to firearms. The Supreme Court last year ruled that the District’s 32-year-old ban on firearms was unconstitutional.

Washington, D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton ripped pro-gun Democrats following news.

“There is no choice between a vote for American citizens and a completely unrelated and reckless gun bill. That is a non-choice,” Norton said during an emotional impromptu press conference following the Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday afternoon. “That’s not a fair exchange. That’s not even an unfair exchange. That is an absurd exchange that no one would accept.”

Passing the District of Columbia legislation was supposed to be easy in the House compared to the Senate. But the National Rifle Association signaled it could make a procedural vote on the issue a test case for lawmakers’ Second Amendment voting records.

Why did Holmes-Norton attack Democrats instead of John Ensign, who authored the amendment?  As it turns out, those Blue Dog Democrats that Nancy Pelosi was so pleased to get in 2006 have pretty strong views on gun ownership and want to end the practice of disarming law-abiding citizens in DC.  In order to get the bill to the floor, the bill has to clear a procedural vote on “rules”, and a significant number of House Democrats refuse to vote for the rules if the Ensign Amendment is not included in the House bill.

Instead of allowing that amendment to remain on the bill, Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi tabled it.  Essentially, Ensign and the pro-gun politicians put a bullet through the heart of the bill.  And while Republicans are reliable supporters of gun rights, the fact that so many Democrats supported the measure sends an interesting signal to Pelosi, Hoyer, and Barack Obama.  If they plan to start taking guns away rather than just play keep-away as they’re doing with DC residents, they could find themselves in the minority very, very quickly.

In the meantime, those gun-control impulses have managed to keep Congress from passing a blatantly unconstitutional law and saved the Supreme Court some time.  In this instance, gun control works — and firearms advocates exploited it skillfully.