"Citizens need to be armed
to protect themselves against
a tyrannical government."
-- Senator Ted Kennedy
Posted on 05/20/2005 4:00:28 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON – Coalition to Stop Gun Violence Executive Director Josh Horwitz today accused a pair of Texas lawmakers of “playing cheap political games” with the District of Columbia’s gun laws at the expense of democracy in the nation’s capital.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, held a news conference to announce the introduction of the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act of 2005, which would repeal the city’s gun laws, in the Senate.
“The citizens of the District of Columbia should have the power to decide by democratic means whether and how firearms will be regulated in the city where they live,” Horwitz said. “The names of the people pushing to repeal Washington’s gun laws have never appeared on a ballot in the District of Columbia, yet they feel free to tell DC what to do.”
Last September, the U.S. House passed an earlier version of the bill, introduced by Reps. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.), on a 250-171 vote, but the Senate did not act on the proposal. November elections have emboldened the gun lobby to push the issue more aggressively, and Souder and Ross reintroduced the House bill in March
“The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act is perhaps the most important example of how Congress continues to trample on the rights of DC voters to make basic decisions about their government whenever they find it politically convenient,” Horwitz said, noting that DC residents do get voting representation in either house of Congress.
Sen. George Allen, the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, appeared at the press conference, and Horwitz said he does not think it is a coincidence that Hutchison is preparing to run for governor of Texas.
“George Allen is going to encourage politicians whose constituents live thousands of miles away to monkey around with DC’s gun laws as an easy way to score points with the gun lobby,” Horwitz said. “This is a transparent attempt to pander to a special interest group without having to worry about the people who have to live in DC.”
“If Kay Hutchison is so concerned about crime, there’s plenty of work to do back home in Texas, which has the twelfth highest violent crime rate of all states and has two of the ten most dangerous large cities in the country,” he said.
Morgan Quitno Press, which compiles statistical comparisons of cities and states, ranks Texas No. 12 in violent crime (table at www.morganquitno.com/CR05sam2.pdf). It rated DC No. 2, Dallas No. 5, and Houston No. 9 on its list of most dangerous cities with more than than 500,000 people (table at www.morganquitno.com/cit05pop.htm).
PING!
Democracy and freedom aren't always the same thing...
DC's strict gun laws must be the reason they have no crime to speak of. /s
I wonder: if they think that is okay to deny the right to bear arms by a simple vote, then the prohibitions on slavery could likewise me nulled..
Excuse me but Congress rules the District of Columbia. Any time Congress wants to override the local DC politicians, they are free to do so.
How about, "Texas will butt out of DC policy when DC butts out of Texas policy!!!!!!"
Deo vindice!
You're finally going to be allowed a gun in DC? I might move there after all...
I'm just glad to see Kay Bailey actually doing something for once....
The answer is NO!
Kinda smarts when things start workin in reverse doesn't it you gungrabber? 'bout time some folks came into your neck of the woods and took the fight to you like you marxist/liberal/gungrabbin, constitution perverting folks have been trying to do to us all these years.
And that is exactly why the Bill of Rights was put into the Constitution: to prevent government from using majority vote to suppress the minority. And in that, the RKBA was the foremost thought of the guys who founded the nation. For in an armed citizenry, mob rule is not possible, nor is any form of tyranny from within. The only problem is the lack of will on the part of the people to exercise their authority in the matter.
This Floridian tells CSGV to go Hades.
self bump for later reading
"..gun laws at the expense of democracy in the nation’s capital. "
Seems like nothing leftists object to is not an assault on democracy.
H'm. That's an interesting thought.
"CSGV TELLS TEXANS TO BUTT OUT OF DC GUN POLICY"
Is he willin' to slap leather with them Texans, or
is he just another blood-sucking, non-profit executive
director shootin' off his mouth?
(The ARE some non-profit executive directors who
are not blood-sucking.)
Somebody has too, the DC politicos certainly don't. DC's murder rate is much higher than Texas', where every one, not prohibited by federal law, can own anything the feds allow. That includes machine guns with the proper federal paperwork. That's all because there is no law against it, or in the case of the MG's an exemption in the law. We can also carry concealed handguns, with permission of the state.
Worse, he and his organization try to tell Texicans and Tejanos what arms we can or cannot own. Considering that the right to do so is protected by both the federal and state constitutions, I'd say it was Mr. Horwitz that is way out on a limb, and sawing fast.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Well, we all know just how successful the gun ban in DC has been!
They should butt out! Let them keep setting records year after year. /sarc
Mark
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