D.C. Personal Protection Act Introduced in Senate

NRA-ILA ^ | May 19, 2005

[inquest]

I think the poison pill you were thinking of had to do with the AWB. Something about eliminating lawsuits against gun dealers and manufacturers in exchange for renewing the AWB (I think). It tanked big time, whatever it was.

I think all that happened with the DC handgun ban repeal is that Frist simply used his power as majority leader to take it off the table - somehow. But in any event, it wasn't filibustered, because it never even made it that far. Frist's rationale at the time was that it was too close to an election and didn't want to do anything "controversial". Never mind that such a move would probably have increased support for the GOP nationwide. (probably not in DC, of course, but it's not like the GOP ever had much chance there anyway)

[inquest]

So Frist had nothing to do with it? I could have sworn I remember reading about how he basically refused to allow it to be put on the table.

[TorahTrueJew]

Does this bill include even *GASP* CCW on a shall-issue basis? If not, then it's pretty useless...

[inquest]

Still plenty useful to the people who actually take advantage of it. Being armed, even under open carry, is much more useful than not being armed at all.

[goldstategop]

Second Amendment Bump!

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[inquest]

OK, I did some poking around, and this is what I remember seeing, from Sep '04:

The bill goes to the Senate, where it has almost no chance of passage. A similar bill is bottled up in committee, and Majority Leader Bill Frist, R- Tenn., has indicated that with little more than a week before Congress recesses to campaign, only noncontroversial measures may come to the floor.

Granted, this is from the SF Comical, so you can take it for what it's worth. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

[TorahTrueJew]

Are you saying the bill would allow open carry? I didn't hear that anywhere either. Any type of carry is fine with me, but I just thought this was going to remove the ban on owning a gun in your own and owning a gun that is loaded and put together. As of today, I believe all handguns are illegal, and all long arms must be stored locked, unloaded, and in a disassembled state.

[inquest]

Are you saying the bill would allow open carry?

I'm sorry, I wasn't quoting from the bill. I just thought you were saying that conceal-carry itself was the necessary useful goal. I'm actually unaware of the details of the bill.

But I still think that keeping a loaded gun in your own home is far preferable to the alternative. The legislation looks like a good start to me. I'd love it to be more sweeping than it appears to be, and I think politically, Congress could get away with making it much more sweeping. I've long believed that the American people at large are more conservative than the politicians, and that the politicians love to take these annoyingly glacial half-steps in the right direction, but giant full steps in the wrong. Nonetheless, this bill (if it says what you've indicated) represents an improvement over the current situation. I wouldn't call it useless.