As he said, to liberals no reason is good enough, unless you are a politically connected liberal or a liberal celebrity.
Based on the following, it would appear the best way to beat this might be petitioning congress.
As the federal capital, the constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in “all cases whatsoever.”
At certain times, and presently since 1973, Congress has allowed certain powers of government to be carried out by locally elected officials. However, Congress maintains the power to overturn local laws and exercises greater oversight of the city than exists for any U.S. state. Furthermore, the District’s elected government exists at the pleasure of Congress and could theoretically be revoked at any time.
If you allow the local government to then pass laws which essentially say that you are entitled to own a firearm, but only if you can show sufficient reason for needing one, is the same as allowing an outright ban if the people in charge believe that nobody has a good enough reason.
That is the New Jersey way. NJ is listed as a may issue state, but in practice, they do NOT issue. If we could trust the courts, they would have long ago admonished NJ to play straight with its citizens.
***he was trying to find a way to undercut the decision....***
Jerry Brown just this month undercut the will of the California voters when back in 1982 when they rejected Prop 15.