Appeals court upholds DC gun restrictions

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The District of Columbia can bar residents from owning assault weapons and require them to register their handguns without violating the Second Amendment, but the district must explain further why its numerous handgun registration requirements are necessary, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals did not strike down any of the district's gun laws, which were approved after a landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision that struck down a 32-year-old handgun ban in the nation's capital.

The court held that the district's ban on assault weapons and magazines containing more than 10 rounds of ammunition were constitutional. It also held that requiring registration of handguns is a deeply rooted practice that does not violate the Second Amendment.

"The basic requirement to register a handgun is longstanding in American law, accepted for a century in diverse states and cities and now applicable to more than one fourth of the nation by population," the judges wrote.