The need for the use of Weapons of War for Public Safety and National Defense justified the Second Amendment.

 The need for the use of Weapons of War for Public Safety 

and National Defense justified the Second Amendment. 

The failure of the state to protect does not justify disarming 

or disabling the citizens' natural right to self-defense.

      D.C.’s ban on semi-automatic rifles and gun registration requirement

are unconstitutional under Heller.

      In Heller, the Supreme Court held that handguns, the vast majority 

of which today are semi-automatic, are constitutionally protected because

they have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by

law-abiding citizens.

     No meaningful and persuasive constitutional distinction between

semi-automatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles exists. Semi-automatic

rifles, like semi-automatic handguns, have not traditionally been banned

and are in common use by law-abiding citizens for self-defense in the

home, hunting, and other lawful uses.

     Semi-automatic handguns are used in violent crimes far more than

semi-automatic rifles. It follows from Heller’s protection of

semi-automatic handguns that semi-automatic rifles are also

constitutionally protected and D.C.’s ban on them was/is unconstitutional.

See Judge Cavanauh's dissent: HELLER v. D.C. - October 4, 2011