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Fight Against [D.C. Gun] Ban Grew Out of Fear, Frustration
Washington Post ^ | 4/8/07 | Elissa Silverman

Posted on 04/08/2007 8:46:57 PM PDT by freespirited

Shelly Parker did everything she could to keep her home safe. She owned a dog. She called police when she suspected illegal activity on her block. She installed a security camera on her front window.

Her crime-fighting efforts made an impression. One night, Parker found her car window smashed and saw rocks scattered around the vehicle. She felt it was retaliation....

A police officer gave her some advice.

Get a gun, he told her.

Parker later joined five other residents who took the government to court in an effort to overturn the city's 31-year-old handgun ban. In March, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in their favor, striking down key elements of the statute by a 2 to 1 vote. ... the judges said the Second Amendment gives residents the right to keep loaded guns in their homes.

The lawsuit bearing her name, Parker vs. the District of Columbia, probably will make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The D.C. attorney general's office said that the city will file a petition tomorrow to have the case reheard before the full Court of Appeals. The gun law is expected to remain intact while proceedings unfold.

The court's decision has been hailed by gun-rights organizations and others who consider themselves staunch defenders of constitutional rights. But D.C. officials and gun-control advocates fear wiping out the ban will proliferate violence. Some have argued that the half-dozen residents who filed the lawsuit are outside the norm in a city once labeled the nation's murder capital.

For Parker, the court ruling is a victory for residents who believe a firearm provides protection when fighting for safe communities. "The only thing between me and somebody entering my home are harsh words," Parker said. "That's all I have."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: armedcitizen; banglist; dcgunban; handguns; secondamendment
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To: freespirited

Fascinating article. When “Parker” becomes as famed as “Miranda”, this tale will be an important part of the history.

Here’s a startling paragraph from the article:

‘Some black neighbors said that the police didn’t pay much attention to the area and patrolled more vigilantly on the other side of Lincoln Park, which was more affluent and white. Parker said some even told her that they were initially disappointed when they saw she was the home buyer. “I had some of my neighbors say, ‘I had hoped you were white.’ They had hoped it had been somebody who was white, somebody who would really step in and put the fear of God in the drug dealer and stop some of the nonsense going on,” she recalled.’


21 posted on 04/09/2007 7:30:01 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: freespirited
The government has no right to forcibly keep me from defending my life. When it does so, I withdraw my acceptance of its legitimacy and resist its attempts to assert its authority over me.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

22 posted on 04/09/2007 10:22:42 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: freespirited
Parker later joined five other residents

Of note: Parker, and four other plaintiffs, lost the case for lack of standing - because she did not file for a permit which, by law, would never be granted.

This is something lost in the bustle about Parker. Only plaintiff Heller actually applied for the in-home-possession permit, knowing full well that by law the permit would not be granted, even to an upstanding citizen (himself an off-duty cop) - and he was of course rejected. (Why DC maintains an office for processing permit applications which shall, by law, _never_ be granted, I don't understand.) Only by having that rejection in-hand did the DC Circuit grant him standing ... and explicitly denied standing to the other 5 plaintiffs.

23 posted on 04/09/2007 11:12:51 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (The color blue tastes like the square root of 0?)
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To: NY.SS-Bar9

Nice Kimber! Is the Ultra Carry new?


24 posted on 04/09/2007 4:24:20 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: Hazcat
Wheel guns are real guns..

Yes they are. I have two Rugers. One is a .357 Blackhawk that I bought in 1971, and the other a Ruger .357 Bisley Vaquero that I got about two years ago. I shoot them both in SASS events. Fun guns in 158 gr. .38 spl.

I also have a Marlin 1894 Cowboy Competition and a Stoeger 12 ga. sbs Coach Gun for SASS also.

25 posted on 04/09/2007 4:27:48 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: flashbunny
It's a great striker-fired polymer pistol, but not time proven.

You may want to look into a Heckler & Koch (German) pistol. I did a LOT of research, and it is an incredibly well engineered pistol.

Here's my HK P2000:

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

It's a DA/SA with the decocker on the rear next to the hammer. 11# pull on the first shot, 4# on the remaining 12 rounds. It comes with four adjustable backstraps to custom fit the grip to the individual.

It's Terrific carry as well as home defense gun.

26 posted on 04/09/2007 6:27:14 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: Cobra64

I’ve had the 9mm version for years now. And the design has been around since before 1995, when it was th HS95 and adopted by the Croatian military and police. That become the HS2000 and later the XD. So it it’s basic design has about 12 years under its belt.


27 posted on 04/09/2007 6:53:23 PM PDT by flashbunny (<--- Free Anti-Rino graphics! See Rudy the Rino get exposed as a liberal with his own words!)
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To: flashbunny

I don’t think your man Rudy would approve of yur having that gun.

He did everything he could to undermine the Second Amendment as Mayor of New York.

So, Flashbunny, I think you should look elsewhere for a candidate!!!


28 posted on 04/09/2007 6:55:03 PM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: ZULU

Rudy certainly ain’t my man! Check out my homepage!

(You may be confusing me with some other ‘bunny’ on the site that’s pro rudy. That’s happened before.)


29 posted on 04/09/2007 6:59:51 PM PDT by flashbunny (<--- Free Anti-Rino graphics! See Rudy the Rino get exposed as a liberal with his own words!)
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To: flashbunny

I stand corrected. I didn’t know it had such a long history. Good to know. Thanks.


30 posted on 04/09/2007 8:05:05 PM PDT by Cobra64 (www.BulletBras.net)
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To: Cobra64

No problem. Most people equate the existence of the pistol as being from the time springfield took over the importation from Intrac. Probably because with Intrac it had a different name and almost no ad budget.


31 posted on 04/09/2007 8:19:48 PM PDT by flashbunny (<--- Free Anti-Rino graphics! See Rudy the Rino get exposed as a liberal with his own words!)
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To: freespirited
the judges said the Second Amendment gives residents the right to keep loaded guns in their homes.

If the court had said that, they'd be wrong. But they didn't, they said the Second Amendment protects the right of individual citizens to keep loaded guns in their homes. Big Difference. Government can protect, respect, or violate the right, but it can't give it, nor can it take it away.

32 posted on 04/09/2007 8:23:59 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: NY.SS-Bar9

Mine, or nearly so, I don't have the "carry" rear sight, but I do have a ported barrel. Mine is also .45 ACP, while I think the photo of a .40.

33 posted on 04/09/2007 8:37:44 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: Cobra64
Nice Kimber! Is the Ultra Carry new?

No - It's been around a while. I've had mine for 6 - 7 years. They are making them in SS now too. They also have some neat factory "custom" jobs. Accurate sumbitch too.

34 posted on 04/10/2007 4:37:55 AM PDT by NY.SS-Bar9 (DR #1692 Mitch Rapp would take Jack Bauer's lunch money.)
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To: flashbunny

Sorry. I think the other was “Bunnyslippers”


35 posted on 04/10/2007 4:49:52 AM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: freespirited

The liberal leftist government of DC can’t and won’t help protect citizens.
Since our #1 obligation in life is to preserve the self, we have an obligation to defend ourselves. So it is morally right and justified to own a gun (even if it’s illegal) for self defense.


36 posted on 04/10/2007 5:01:33 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: freespirited
One interesting aspect to this story that I didn't know was that the cop told her to get a gun. In my experience, cops are usually pro second amendment. I've always assumed that this was at least partly because they had a familiarity with firearms so they weren't intimidated by them like politicians.

Politicians however (as we all know) are frequently intimidated by firearms. Not only is this not a bad thing, it's exactly the point, and is why the framers enshrined protection of the right in the constitution in the first place. The second amendment is one of the "checks and balances" we hear so much about, and it's great that it's looking like it's going to be seen that way again.

In fact, it's the politicians who are the most anti-gun who are by no coincidence, the ones we most desperately need to bring back in line. We need to remind them that they work for us, and not the other way around.

37 posted on 04/10/2007 5:12:29 AM PDT by tcostell (MOLON LABE)
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To: Cobra64

That Redhawk is 45LC. I got it to go with my Puma 454 (also shoots the 45LC).

I use full power hand loads (1050 fps) and even some old Elmer Kieth loads that hit around 1500fps from the 5.5 barrel and around 1800 fps from the Puma. These are pushing 260 grain RNFPGC.

The Puma is 18 inch ported and makes quite a ‘boom’. LOTS of fun at the range.


38 posted on 04/10/2007 5:50:03 AM PDT by Hazcat (Live to party, work to afford it.)
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To: Cobra64
I did a LOT of research...

Except on the caliber ;)

39 posted on 04/10/2007 8:47:04 AM PDT by NY.SS-Bar9 (DR #1692 Mitch Rapp would take Jack Bauer's lunch money.)
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To: NY.SS-Bar9

What? You don’t like 9mm?


40 posted on 04/10/2007 10:00:04 AM PDT by Hazcat (Live to party, work to afford it.)
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