Tuesday, September 09, 2008

D.C. Gun Battles Continue

From Reason On-line:
Even after losing the epochal Second Amendment Supreme Court case D.C. v. Heller back in June, D.C. has truculently tried to remain as restrictionist as they think they can get away with when it comes to its citizens' ability to own weapons, including an extremely eccentric definition of "machine gun" that so far makes only revolvers and derringers legal for D.C. citizens even post-Heller.

A bill that seems likely to pass the House this week will change that. The Washington Post has details:

The legislation has four main goals. It would repeal the D.C. ban on semiautomatic pistols and rifles; eliminate the city's gun-registration requirements; allow District residents to purchase guns in Virginia and Maryland; and abolish the regulation that guns kept at home be unloaded and either disassembled or fitted with trigger locks.

The NRA considers the bill its top legislative priority this season, and even many Democrats, traditionally the party of gun control, are on board to overrule D.C on guns. Though D.C. Mayor Fenty begged Pelosi and Waxman to let D.C. settle its gun policy itself, the Post notes:

Pelosi decided to act after Republicans indicated that they could gather enough signatures to bring a D.C. gun bill to the floor. Although Democrats have a 37-seat advantage in the House, dozens of party members are strong gun-rights proponents, reflecting opinion in their districts.

Facing the possibility of being outflanked just weeks before the election, House Democrats introduced their own legislation. The Democratic leadership has promised to bring it to a vote, several congressional sources said.

"It's something a number of our members have indicated they support," said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It's something a number of our members have indicated they support," said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi.

Must be that "Hang Every Gun Owner From A Lamp Post" bill the Dems and Nancy BotoxStein have always wanted.

These clowns have always made me sick to my stomach but in an election year, it gets 100 times worse.
BHusseinO flapping his jaws trying to look gun friendly, "You don't have to worry about me."

NO. Not a bit.

Overload in Colorado said...

"The NRA considers the bill its top legislative priority this season"

I wonder why? Because the NRA is based in DC so it's close and relevant to them personally?

It's the same reason why NY and LA news gets more coverage: that's where the networks are based.

Anonymous said...

From the Demonratik People's Platform 2008

Firearms
We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we
will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms. We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation, but we know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact and enforce commonsense laws and improvements –like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background
check system, and reinstating the assault weapons ban, so that guns do not fall into the hands of
terrorists or criminals. Acting responsibly and with respect for differing views on this issue, we
can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and our children safe.

Oh yeah, and here's one from the 1864 Demmonratik Peoples Platform:

Resolved, That this convention does explicitly declare, as the sense of the American people, that after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretense of a military necessity of war-power higher than the Constitution, the Constitution itself has been disregarded in every part, and public liberty and private right alike trodden down, and the material prosperity of the country essentially impaired, justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view of an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practicable moment, peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union of the States.

Resolved, That the direct interference of the military authorities of the United States in the recent elections held in Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Delaware was a shameful violation of the Constitution, and a repetition of such acts in the approaching election will be held as revolutionary, and resisted with all the means and power under our control.

Resolved, That the aim and object of the Democratic party is to preserve the Federal Union and the rights of the States unimpaired, and they hereby declare that they consider that the administrative usurpation of extraordinary and dangerous powers not granted by the Constitution — the subversion of the civil by military law in States not in insurrection; the arbitrary military arrest, imprisonment, trial, and sentence of American citizens in States where civil law exists in full force; the suppression of freedom of speech and of the press; the denial of the right of asylum; the open and avowed disregard of State rights; the employment of unusual test-oaths; and the interference with and denial of the right of the people to bear arms in their defense is calculated to prevent a restoration of the Union and the perpetuation of a Government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed.

Some things never change. Once vermin always vermin.