Repeal D.c.'s Gun Law

[aileron]

Very interesting comments in here.

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?page=article&Article_ID=14177

REPEAL D.C.'S GUN LAW

Washington, D.C., has one of the highest homicide rates in the country despite having the strictest gun law in the country. This week, council member Marion Barry and three other lawmakers proposed suspending the city's 30-year-old handgun ban. For 90 days, Washingtonians should be able to buy and register handguns. It is a good start, though a permanent repeal would make more sense, says the Washington Times.

Barry's office admits the bill is "an acknowledgement that people do have guns." He and the other lawmakers think that the solution is to make sure all guns are registered, though the people who will register their guns are not the problem, says the Times:

* Canada, which has registered handguns since the 1930s and all guns since 1998, recently admitted that it could not identify a single violent crime that had been solved because of registration.
* Hawaii, which has had registration and licensing for around 50 years and well-protected borders, has had the same experience.

An amnesty to register guns isn't going to make D.C. safer. The laws fail for a simple reason: Criminals rarely leave their guns at the scene so that they could be tracked, and even when they do, the criminals' guns are not registered. Registration really just imposes a cost on law-abiding citizens.

The city should also do away with other laws that endanger innocent people, such as requirements that we keep our guns locked, unloaded and disassembled. It may take less than eight minutes to unlock and load your gun for defense, but it still takes too long. Research indicates these laws endanger many more lives than they save.

Since 1976, the city's murder rate is up 32 percent. The country's is down 36 percent. Let's see whether letting law-abiding citizens get more guns means less crime, says the Times.

Source: Editorial, "Repeal D.C.'s gun law," Washington Times, February 9, 2007.

For text:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070208-084406-2231r.htm

For more on State and Local Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=40

 

[TomH]

I like the examples of Canada and Hawaii there; states the facts and gets to the point! This is the sort of information that needs to be spread around MA more. I have seen similar info about the UK and Austrailia but it would be nice to see more hard numbers on that.