(CNSNews.com) - By a vote of 259 to 161, the House Thursday approved an amendment to overturn D.C.'s gun ban.

The Souder amendment (H.R.1288), which was attached to an appropriations bill for federal subsidies for the nation's capital, would allow D.C. residents to keep fully assembled rifles and pre-1976 handguns in their homes.

"I believe the constitutional right to bear arms supersedes local authority," Reuters quotes Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) as saying.

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey expressed their lack of support for the amendment, saying it will lead to more bloodshed. The amendment is "a slap in the face to me and the people who live in this city," Williams reportedly told a House committee.

Meanwhile, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said Mayor Williams considers D.C. residents to be mere "subjects" who can't exercise their Second Amendment right to self-defense.

"A far greater indignity is suffered by victims of violent crime every day in the capital of the free world. How dare Mayor Williams suggest that saving his political face is more important than restoring the right of self-defense to the citizens of the city?" said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb in a statement.

"This is just one more example," Gottlieb said, "of an anti-gun politician worrying more about his political skin than about the lives of the citizens he serves; citizens who, every day, must worry about being robbed, raped, assaulted or murdered by thugs emboldened by a 30-year-old gun ban that has only led to higher crime rates."

"With that evidence staring him in the face," Gottlieb said, "Mayor Williams clings to the notion that residents of the district are better off not being able to defend themselves, and that they should leave their safety entirely in the hands of the police.

"He would relegate the citizens to the status of imperial subjects, solely dependent upon the police for personal protection, just days after the Supreme Court ruled once again that individual citizens enjoy no such protection," said Gottlieb.

Gottlieb then blasted Ramsey, who told the House committee that last weekend alone, D.C. police officers confiscated 17 guns.

"The ban obviously has failed to keep guns out of the wrong hands. It is high time Congress acts because the city council has failed its duty to protect the citizens. The time has come for the people to regain the right, and the ability, to protect themselves," Gottlieb said.

Other opponents of the amendment believe Congress is not respecting the "rights" of the city and its laws.

Reuters quotes Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a Second Amendment rights supporter, as saying the amendment "really goes to respecting the rights of the District of Columbia to make their laws."

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