Another "journalist" calls for local control on gun control...

Sophia,

Recently you wrote an article in the Cavalier Daily favoring local control over the District's gun laws.  You felt that the District was being unfairly singled out due to its special Constitutional status as a federal territory. 

It's understandable that you would be in favor of local control on many issues, but the question of local control as regards Constitutional Rights is a settled one.  States have no right to deny Federal Rights to their citizens.  That applies equally to Chicago and New York as it does to the District of Columbia, although it is true that Congress has more direct legislative authority over the District than those other cities.

If you truly wish to place yourself on the side of local control over Federal Rights, perhaps you should consider the company you are joining.  Do you really want to find yourself on the wrong side of Brown v Board of Education?  What about the Civil Rights Act; do you support local control in that case?  How about Roe v Wade?  Would you be so sanguine if the District chose to restrict the tools of your trade -- the word processor and printing press, equally protected by the Federal Constitution against local infringement?

The fact is, Federal Constitutional Rights are protected against State infringement for good reason, and those reasons apply to the District just as much as they do elsewhere.  You would do well to consider the company you will be keeping if you continue to support your position.