Bang!
Posted on 05/05/2004 7:17:06 PM PDT by tgslTakoma
(CNSNews.com) - The May 3rd shooting death of an eight-year-old District of Columbia girl -- killed in her aunt's home while picking up her dolls -- is expected to galvanize anti-gun groups that are coming to the city this weekend for a Mother's Day march against guns.
The so-called "Halt the Assault" rally is being sponsored by the Million Mom March, a group that advocates gun control.
Eight-year-old Chelsea Cromartie was shot in the head Monday night by a stray bullet that crashed through a window of her aunt's house. Police said the gunfire erupted on a street outside, following an argument between two groups of young men. Police have not made any arrests.
As the Washington Post reported, the shooting has dismayed and outraged city officials and residents.
"There is a culture of violence and attitude that exists among many people that leads to violence we've been witnessing," the newspaper quoted Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey as saying. "There really is no explaining this."
Police have confiscated more than 700 guns in the District of Columbia so far this year -- and they confiscated more than 2,000 last year -- in a city where it is illegal to own handguns, WUSA-TV, the local CBS affiliate, reported.
"Eighty percent of our homicides involve the use of handguns," Chief Ramsey told the TV station. "Now, we have very good gun control laws. But it's not difficult to go someplace and buy a gun outside the District," he said.
According to WUSA-TV, Ramsey also told the TV station that strict penalties and enforcement of existing laws are what is needed.
Washington has one of the nation's most restrictive gun laws, according to the Cato Institute, a public policy research group, which has filed a lawsuit on behalf of six D.C. residents, demanding that the city relax its "draconian" gun laws.
According to Cato, it is illegal for any D.C. resident to own a handgun unless he or she is a police officer or owns a gun that was registered before 1976. Even then, all guns must be kept unloaded in the home, the Cato Institute said.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of residents who complain that the only armed people in the District are the bad guys -- leaving law-abiding citizens without the ability to defend themselves.
Marching moms
The Million Mom March -- which is affiliated with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence -- says it is marching "against gun violence and the devastation it causes."
A statement on the group's website calls on the Congress "to renew and strengthen the Assault Weapons Ban, to hold gun manufacturers accountable for their products, to require background checks on all gun purchases, to reinstate the 5-day Brady waiting period for all gun purchases, and to incorporate safety standards into gun design."
The night before the May 9th march, the gun control group is hosting what it calls a "Blacklist Ball," a jibe at the National Rifle Association's so-called "blacklist" of gun control groups.
"Who knew that being on a blacklist could be such a ball?" the Brady/Million Mom website says.
The list of the Blacklist Ball's national sponsors reads like a "who's-who" of liberal activists and Democrat lawmakers. (Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not listed, but the senior senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, is.)
Counter-demonstration
The Second Amendment Sisters said it will hold a counter-demonstration in Washington on Sunday to stand up for the "basic human right of self-defense for women and others."
The SAS gathering -- dubbed the Second Amendment Freedoms for Everyone Rally, or S.A.F.E.R. -- called the Million Mom March "extremist."
"The people's God-given right to keep and bear arms, as articulated in the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America (a part of the Bill of Rights), is being assaulted on a daily basis by well-funded anti-gun organizations," SAS said in a press release.
"Unbelievably, the extremist MMM is asking Congress to renew and strengthen the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban," a law that even the Centers for Disease Control admits has had no effect on crime.
"The gun-grabbers are also shooting to reinstate the 5-day Brady waiting period for all gun purchases, which has proven itself to be utterly worthless since its inception."
Sure, Chief. It's somebody else's problem, only...why is the violence in your jurisdiction? Fact is, it isn't difficult to buy a gun inside the District, either...if you're a crook.
And right there is the most likely answer. "Two groups of "young men."" We dare not call them by the more accurate description . . . Gang. Not be pee-cee, ya know.
Police have not made any arrests.
The "B" part of the problem. Too late to make a showing by making an arrest or two. The time for that to have been effective is long gone. The kid is dead. The cops were probably following some "self-esteem" policy of avoiding "ethnic" arrests.
Nice shot!
So we must have strict enforcement of existing anti-gun laws. Why not just have strict enforcement of the laws against assault, robbery, and murder, if it is so simple to enforce the laws?
It is hard to believe the liberals keep pushing the demonstrably failed policy.
Brady and ALL the gun-grabbers are utterly worthless too. It's the same bunch that marched in the abortion march. I wish those old hags would find something else to occupy their wasted minds and leave gun owners alone.
Sheer stupidity. How about this one. The girl was shot while bending down to pick up her dolls. Let's make dolls illegal to while we're at it.
New law: Same as the one on the books, with the words "This time we really mean it" added
it is illegal for any D.C. resident to own a handgun ...
So where's the logic? The gun that killed her was already illegal. So, if anything, this incident is an argument against criminalizing gun ownership. Since the gun was already illegal, a fact which didn't prevent her death, making it even more illegal obviously won't change a thing.
I don't know anything about D.C. laws, except as stated in this article, but how about legalizing guns, and giving the death penalty to anyone who kills a child, "accidentally" or otherwise. (Were it my child, the death penalty would be guaranteed - by me, personally.) Just as there are strict "cop killer" laws in some jurisdictions, maybe there should be "child killer" laws.
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