House Bill Would Return Handguns to Capital

A bill that would repeal most local gun laws in the nation's capital passed the House Wednesday, over the objections of city officials including the mayor and police chief.

Don't start celebrating yet. It likely won't pass the Senate. But please do check how your representative voted.

"I've seen various members of Congress try to do some low down, dirty, mean things to the people of the District of Columbia, all to promote their own political agendas against the will of the people who live here," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (search), D-D.C. "This bill to repeal the city's gun safety laws ... scrapes the bottom of the lowest level yet," said Norton, who can vote on the House floor but not in committee.

Actually, the District of Columbia doesn't have "gun safety laws". It has an absolute prohibition on handguns, registration of rifles and shotguns, and requires that the latter be kept unloaded and disassembled.

In other words, if you want to use a firearm to defend yourself, you need to be at home, and you need to find your gun, put it together, find your ammunition in a separate room, load the firearm, and then -- if you aren't dead -- you can try to shoot the criminal. How fast do you think you could do that in the dark?

The only bad thing about this bill is that the Senate version has already been withdrawn to avoid giving the antis a vehicle for renewing the Assault Weapons Ban. That means that we need to make sure to get some more pro-gun folks in the Senate this November so we can force the bill through both Houses.

UPDATE: Here are the votes. We want an "Aye" vote on this bill. I can already tell that I need to have some words with my representative... what kind of idiot votes for gun control while representing Texans?

Pointing to a chart showing a semiautomatic 50-caliber sniper weapon, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., warned, "It is capable of taking out an armored limousine from a mile away.

"Can you imagine that in the District of Columbia someone can have this assault weapon and stick it out of a window on Pennsylvania Avenue?" Waxman asked. He said the bill would "invite terrorists to bring assault weapons into the heart of the nation's capital."

So, Mr. Waxman, what exactly do you think is stopping them from doing that right now? Terrorists and criminals do not obey laws. In fact...

Several supporters made reference to the city's murder rate, with Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., going so far as to claim Washington is more dangerous than the African cities of Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam. But Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles H. Ramsey said they were looking back to bygone days.

"Our murder rate is just half of what it was" 12 years ago, said Ramsey. His department seizes about 2,000 illegal handguns and other weapons each year. But MPD officers are coming across more crime scenes where upwards of 40 shell casings are found near shooting victims.

"Obviously that's a sign that some sort of assault weapon was used," said Ramsey.

Gee, the gun ban is working really really well, isn't it?