Last week, a Georgetown student was held up at gunpoint in West Georgetown. Across the city, a thirteen year-old boy was shot Monday by a bullet not meant for him. Michael Swann became the 21st child killed in gun violence this year alone. Unfortunately, protecting the citizens of D.C. is not the priority of the GOP, who staged a show vote on repealing gun laws at the expense of innocent lives.
Despite the obvious threat of gun violence in the District, Republicans in Congress voted to end the city’s ban on handguns and semiautomatic weapons yesterday. The law would decriminalize handgun possession and unregistered firearms and lift registration rules. Not only are the 228 co-sponsors of the law ignoring the desires of D.C.’s citizens, they’re committing an act of election year pandering.
Even more troubling, the sponsors believe the D.C. City Council should be denied the “authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms,” according to language in the bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.).
City officials, including Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, D.C. Congressional Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton and the entire District Council, opposed the repeal and are working to keep guns out of the district to protect Washington from the consequences of violent crime. The MPD has taken some 1,385 guns off the street, and Ramsey reported a “13 percent decrease in overall crime and a 24 percent reduction in homicide” in a recent interview with The Washington Post.
Although the stated intention of the legislation is that armed D.C. residents will protect themselves from criminals, Republicans and the National Rifle Association have publicly claimed that a vote will embarrass Democratic lawmakers, especially those from rural or more conservative districts.
Luckily for those of us who actually reside in the district, a similar bill in the Senate, proposed by Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), was withdrawn following public outcry and lobbying by anti-gun D.C. organizations, including the parents of slain children.
Neither bill would have the necessary support to pass in the Senate thanks to the greater power of the Democratic minority there. Unfortunately, neither grieving parents nor the futility of the attempt will stop the House GOP from showboating on the issue-House leaders have promised a vote on the issue before Election Day.
It’s obvious that this shameless infringement on the political rights of district citizens and irresponsible public policy should be condemned.
