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D.C. Government Continues Mugging Gun Owners
Townhall.com ^ | July 27, 2008 | Ken Connor

Posted on 07/27/2008 6:28:50 AM PDT by Kaslin

Notwithstanding the adverse ruling the District of Columbia received from the U. S. Supreme Court for its unconstitutional ordinance restricting the rights of citizens to keep and bear arms, bureaucrats in the Federal City continue their efforts to gnaw away at the Second Amendment.

That amendment is elegant in its simplicity: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Nevertheless, it took over 150 pages for the Court to expound upon its meaning. (Surely the justices have too much time on their hands!) Bottom line: "...the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense." The Court also directed the District to allow the complainant, Mr. Heller, to register his firearm and to issue him a permit to carry it in his home.

The Court ruled that the right to bear arms is an individual one and that it includes the right to use handguns—the weapon of choice for most people—for self-defense. The Court recognized that the right to self-defense is inherent, and it is in the home where the "need for defense of self, family, and property is the most acute."

While D.C. is no longer the "murder capital" of the country, it is still seventh on the 2006 list of major cities that "where guns are outlawed, only the outlaws have guns."

You would think that Mayor Adrian Fenty would want to ensure that the District's residents would have the means to protect themselves. After all, as professor Gary Kleck explains in his book Targeting Guns, 25 to 75 lives are saved by guns for every life lost to a gun. But, think again!

Within a month after the ruling came down, the District passed a new set of draconian regulations restricting the rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms in the nation's capital. According to USA Today, the new laws require residents of the District to jump through multiple hoops to own a handgun. They must get a permit from the city, keep the gun in their homes only for self-defense purposes, pass vision and written exams, provide the weapon for ballistic testing, and prove they are a resident of the District. Securing the permits could take weeks to months. Most astounding in light of the Court's decision is the new requirement that guns be kept "unloaded, disassembled or secured with trigger locks" unless there is a "threat of immediate harm." The Supreme Court has recognized that the primary purpose of the Second Amendment is to establish the individual's right to keep a weapon for self-defense, yet the new D.C. law practically destroys the ability to exercise that right by forcing an individual to load, unlock, or assemble their weapon only after a threat is already present. Advantage, criminal!

America's Founders were willing to pay the ultimate price to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity. They well knew the danger of being defenseless against forces intent on harming them. Thus, in the Second Amendment, they secured the right of every citizen to have the means by which to protect themselves. The D.C. Council continues to trample upon this right leaving the District's law-abiding citizens defenseless in their own homes. And, because these bureaucrats fail to respect the Constitution, it is the citizens who pay the ultimate price.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; bang; banglist; democrats; elections; fenty; heller; nobama08; nra; rapeofliberty; rkba; secondamendment; shallnotbeinfringed

1 posted on 07/27/2008 6:28:50 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Czar Fenty and his Commies on the D.C. Council need to be frog marched down to Lorton Virginia for a spell while a special master is appointed to run the D.C. regime.

Not that I’m holding my breath.


2 posted on 07/27/2008 6:34:51 AM PDT by mkjessup (Jimmy Carter is the Skidmark in the panties of American history. [Brezezinski is the yellow stain])
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To: Kaslin
Ignore an unconstitutional law. Civil disobedience is called for. DC Thug Fenty and his cops don't have enough prison space to jail every DC resident seeking to exercise their rights.

"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

3 posted on 07/27/2008 6:39:34 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Kaslin
Slaves have no need for guns.

Their owners provide for their welfare.


Vote Smart ... stay informed

4 posted on 07/27/2008 6:40:40 AM PDT by G.Mason (Duty, Honor, Country)
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To: mkjessup

Special master? I’ll bet John R. Bolton could fix the place. Would be the first time a man has been in charge in quite sometime. The wimps would be running for cover!


5 posted on 07/27/2008 7:11:13 AM PDT by Issaquahking ("What did you do for America today?")
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To: goldstategop
Ignore an unconstitutional law. Civil disobedience is called for. DC Thug Fenty and his cops don't have enough prison space to jail every DC resident seeking to exercise their rights.

I agree, but here's the problem. The Communists who run our country know that they can't and won't ever be able to truly control the people as individuals. Any attempts to do so would wake the people from their perpetual slumber, and interfere with the plan to move us entirely to Communism. What they do is control the businesses, which means that even though you're willing to disobey their chickensh!t gun control laws, the gun shops can't and won't.

6 posted on 07/27/2008 7:18:56 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (I have Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance policies.)
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To: Kaslin

“Murder is the only statistic that all agencies are required to report. Consequently some agencies particularly in Illinois do not report all the crimes. If components are missing the total is adjusted to “0.”

I’ll bet Chicago and King daley are lying through their teeth as to how safe the city is.


7 posted on 07/27/2008 7:24:20 AM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Vote against the dem party)
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To: Kaslin
You would think that Mayor Adrian Fenty would want to ensure that the District's residents would have the means to protect themselves.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

With that need for protection in mind Fenty decided his best choice for Police Chief would be a GIRL. A girl who sued the department repeatedly for sexual discrimination and was promoted to shut her up. (:^o)

8 posted on 07/27/2008 7:29:16 AM PDT by RoadKingSE (How do you know that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a muzzle flash?)
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To: mkjessup
Czar Fenty and his Commies on the D.C. Council need to be frog marched down to Lorton Virginia..

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

It would definitely be an improvement to their current 10-20 because this is what Lorton looks like now.

9 posted on 07/27/2008 7:38:37 AM PDT by RoadKingSE (How do you know that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a muzzle flash?)
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To: Kaslin

Leftists are relentless in their march to destroy our rights and create a marxist utopia.


10 posted on 07/27/2008 8:01:30 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (liberalism = serious mental deficiency)
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To: Kaslin

DC is hoping it takes another 30 years for these “new” rules to be challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court.

This is going to be the liberal tactic....stall, obfuscate, block and violate the edges of the ruling in hopes liberal judges can chip away at it over time, leaving you with a right to keep and bear arms only in your home and nowhere else.....and if you live up to impossible standards.


11 posted on 07/27/2008 8:05:38 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Too many conservatives urge retreat when the war of politics doesn't go their way.)
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To: goldstategop
Ignore an unconstitutional law. Civil disobedience is called for.

....Isn't it really civil disobedience and contempt of SUPREME COURT on the part of these city "officials" that would be disobeyed?

Wouldn't that make it a double wrong making it right?

12 posted on 07/27/2008 8:19:28 AM PDT by SteamShovel (Global Warming, the New Patriotism)
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To: Issaquahking
Special master? I’ll bet John R. Bolton could fix the place. Would be the first time a man has been in charge in quite sometime. The wimps would be running for cover!

We don't hate John Bolton THAT much do we?!? Why would we wish that on him? LOL
13 posted on 07/27/2008 8:31:15 AM PDT by mkjessup (Jimmy Carter is the Skidmark in the panties of American history. [Brezezinski is the yellow stain])
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To: mkjessup
Hate?

I love the man! It would take some one of his strength and conviction to clean up that mess. John would get the job done, after firing all the clowns, and those that didn't die of a heart-attack, and his mission complete, the place might worthy of the title American city again.
14 posted on 07/27/2008 9:09:44 AM PDT by Issaquahking ("What did you do for America today?")
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To: Issaquahking

Oh I agree with your estimation of Bolton, however I think his qualifications and talents would be wasted in what would be essentially a municipal clean up job, I want to see him as Vice President or even President. Secretary of State at the minimum because it would scare the bejesus out of those entrenched career traitor-bureaucrats at State who sell us out each and every day and night, 365 days a year.

Bolton would drain that swamp if he had to personally deliver termination notices to each and every damn one of those clods.

Bolton is a patriot, and he got short shrift by this Administration, and that’s because our illustrious President caved in to the professional appeasers and fools like Condi-the-Piano-Player, Christopher Hill, and the rest of those acolytes of Neville (Chamberlain).


15 posted on 07/27/2008 9:18:57 AM PDT by mkjessup (Jimmy Carter is the Skidmark in the panties of American history. [Brezezinski is the yellow stain])
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To: goldstategop
Ignore an unconstitutional law.

Within the U.S. there is no such thing as an unconstitutional law. There are unconstitutional statutes, ordinances, regulations, and other rules, but those are not laws.

16 posted on 07/27/2008 10:48:05 AM PDT by supercat
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To: Kaslin

So who voted these yahoos and neanderthals into office? Blame them.


17 posted on 07/27/2008 11:10:18 AM PDT by sergeantdave (We are entering the Age of the Idiot)
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To: mkjessup
Alas my friend, Lorton is no more. Some idiot turned it into residential property for a profit. I used to pick up drug screens for a medical lab at Lorton, including maximum security. Scary place.
18 posted on 07/27/2008 11:19:26 AM PDT by junkman_106 (Once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is enemy action ---007/Ian Fleming)
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To: Kaslin
The Supreme Court has recognized that the primary purpose of the Second Amendment is to establish the individual's right to keep a weapon for self-defense, yet the new D.C. law practically destroys the ability to exercise that right by forcing an individual to load, unlock, or assemble their weapon only after a threat is already present.

I thought the lock provision was one of the things explicitly struck down (and ridiculed) in Heller. Am I mistaken?

19 posted on 07/27/2008 12:06:46 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: junkman_106
Alas my friend, Lorton is no more. Some idiot turned it into residential property for a profit. I used to pick up drug screens for a medical lab at Lorton, including maximum security. Scary place.

Lorton is no more?!?!

I somehow missed that development, and my Google turned up the 'Lorton Correctional Complex Closure Act' introduced by noneother than soon-to-be ex-Senator John Warner, and it was 11 years ago!!! Damn!

I knew people who had spent time in Lorton, and they told me it was a 24 hour nightmare and you only slept when you were so exhausted that your eyelids overpowered the toothpicks you were using to keep your eyes open.

A place like that was MEANT for Communists like Adrian Fenty and his crew.

Guess they'll have to be put on a road gang repaving I-295, i.e. the Anacostia Freeway.
20 posted on 07/27/2008 1:17:29 PM PDT by mkjessup
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