Anti-gun activists in Washington D.C. held a “pray in” outside of Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s office Thursday and asked him to withdraw his support for legislation that would ease firearm restrictions in the nation’s capital.
Tester co-sponsored a bill with Arizona Republican Sen. Jon McCain that would repeal the District’s ban on semi-automatic weapons and remove the requirement that guns be kept unloaded and disassembled when stored in the home or office.
Tester did take time to meet with the activists, who included three clergy members, for about 10 minutes. <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/05/activists_get_meeting_with_key.html" title="From the Washington Post:”>From the Washington Post:
Tester was polite but noncommittal.
“I appreciate the perspective,” he told them. “If I’m going to be right straight honest with you, we can agree to disagree. I get the local control stuff. I appreciate that. The 2nd Amendment stuff is a little more firm in my soul because of where it is in the Constitution.”
Holness pressed Tester on whether or not he might decide to withdraw his support of the bill.
“Gosh, no, I can’t,” the senator said.
Zherka pledged not to rest until Tester repudiated the bill: “We’re going to come back until he takes his name off.”