D.C. Won’t Comply With Supreme Court Ruling So Congress Is Trying
September 10, 2008
Congress wants to present a bill that would change the gun laws in the District of Columbia. Since the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the D.C. gun ban was unconstitutional, the District has done virtually nothing to comply with that ruling. Thus, Congress, in a bipartisan effort is putting a bill together that would change those laws. The bill would in short, make it easier to buy guns, eliminate registration and allow legal guns in homes to be loaded and operational.
In discussions yesterday about this proposed bill, one that I think is better than what they had but doesn’t go far enough, the D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier, wins my golden horse manure award for making these comments:
“Imagine how difficult it will be for law enforcement to safeguard the public, not to mention the president at the inaugural parade,†Chief Lanier said at a hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. She added that on any given day there were motorcades for foreign dignitaries and untold numbers of federal workers traveling the city streets.
“In attempted and successful assassinations around the world,†she said “the first step in attacking a motorcade is frequently to take out the security detail with semiautomatic and automatic firearms.â€
You decide!
Tom Remington
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Where’s the laurel wreath on the “road apples”?
Looks like it’s going to be an olympic effort to change “the nation’s capitol” (and a shining example of what’s wrong with the country)
This taking out of the security detail with semi-autos and automatics sounds third world. Colombian or Mexican or Hollywood. Oh that means the good police chief Cathy might have a logical argument.
Their own “Correctness” (Please don’t profile that angry looking foreigner between the ages of 20 – 40)has opened the door to the lunatic fringe that could pull off this kind of maneuver right on Pennsylvania Avenue. But I doubt the weapons would come from any local straw purchase. More likely by some Argentinian with close contacts with Hugo Chavez and his new Russian AK’s
Norton and her allies on the committee have reacted with alarm to the Childers bill, saying it would allow residents to carry loaded semiautomatic weapons and .50-caliber sniper rifles around the District, increasing the risk of a terrorist attack.
They note that the Childers bill would only ban residents from carrying pistols around the city, unless they have a special license. It has no prohibition on toting semiautomatic rifles, and therefore authorities would have no charge to use against anyone doing so, according to a legal analysis by the government reform committee.
The National Rifle Association, a strong supporter of the Childers bill, disputes that interpretation. “Any lawyer who has such creative ability to read that into the law probably went to the University of Disney World,” said Chris W. Cox, the chief NRA lobbyist.
With city officials defying a Supreme Court ruling against handgun bans.
Democratic candidate Obama is advocating handgun bans and would appoint like-minded people to the federal courts.
Gun owners shouldn’t need much more to remind them to get out the vote in November for candidates who respect the entire Constitution! And the word of the law.
Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of Representatives,
I HAVE directed the proper officers to lay before you respectively such papers and estimates as regards the affairs particularly recommended to your consideration, and necessary to convey to you that information of the state of the union, which it is my duty to afford.
The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed.– And I shall derive great satisfaction from a cooperation with you, in the pleasing though arduous task of ensuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect, from a free and equal government.
G. WASHINGTON United States, January 8, 1790
The Second Amendment Enforcement Act will:
· Repeal the District’s ban on semi-automatic handguns. Semi-automatic pistols have been the most commonly purchased firearms in the United States over the last 20 years, and therefore a ban on those firearms is unconstitutional as decided by Heller;
· Restore the right of self-defense by repealing the requirement that firearms be disassembled or secured with a trigger lock in the home;
· Reform the current D.C. registration system that requires multiple visits to police headquarters; ballistics testing; passing a written test on D.C. gun laws; fingerprinting; and limiting registration to one handgun per 90 days. The current system is unduly burdensome and serves as a vehicle for even more onerous restrictions; and
· Create a limited exemption to the federal ban on interstate handgun sales by allowing D.C. residents to purchase handguns in Virginia and Maryland. Currently there is only one licensed firearm dealer in the District, and the District government is standing in the way of additional dealers opening their doors. A 40-year old federal law prohibits residents from purchasing handguns outside of the District.
“I’d like to thank Congressmen Travis Childers, John Dingell, John Tanner, Mike Ross, Mark Souder, Bill Sali and Robin Hayes for their leadership. NRA will continue our work to bring the Second Amendment to D.C. residents, but we call on the Senate now to take up this historic legislation,†concluded Cox. “The American people should know where their elected representatives stand on this critical civil rights legislation before the November elections.â€