On Tap

I noticed the Washington Post has a rather breathless editorial running about a House hearing tomorrow on revamping the District of Columbia’s gun laws.

if sponsors of H.R. 6691 have their way, the District would be barred from passing any law that would “prohibit, constructively prohibit, or unduly burden” gun ownership by anyone not barred by existing (and weak) federal gun laws. That would mean that the District couldn’t require a vision test or shooting proficiency or education about gun safety for children. Gun registration would be abolished, as would the ban on carrying weapons — even military-style rifles — in public. It’s a scary scenario in a city where political protests, presidential motorcades and visits by foreign dignitaries are routine.

The Brady Campaign has a similarly scary press release, stating in part:

The bill, H.R. 6691, would extinguish virtually all gun regulations in the nation’s Capital, allowing the open carrying of assault rifles and .50 caliber sniper rifles on the streets of Washington, and putting government officials, foreign dignitaries, and tourists at grave risk of harm.

The only thing is, it doesn’t appear to be true.

H.R. 6691, makes specific changes to the District’s Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975. The bill also states:

Section 4 of the Act entitled `An Act to prohibit the killing of wild birds and wild animals in the District of Columbia’, approved June 30, 1906 (34 Stat. 809; sec. 1-303.43, D.C. Official Code) is amended by adding at the end the following: `Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall authorize, or shall be construed to permit, the Council, the Mayor, or any governmental or regulatory authority of the District of Columbia to prohibit, constructively prohibit, or unduly burden the ability of persons not prohibited from possessing firearms under Federal law from acquiring, possessing in their homes or businesses, or using for sporting, self-protection or other lawful purposes, any firearm neither prohibited by Federal law nor subject to the National Firearms Act. The District of Columbia shall not have authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms.’.

Note that there’s nothing in that statement regarding the carrying of firearms (either concealed or openly) in public. Also, remember when I said HR 6691 changes specific sections of the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975? Well, D.C. law regarding concealed and open carrying of firearms is not contained within that act (sec. 7-2501.01(10), D.C. Official Code). It’s contained in 22-4504, which deals with criminal law.*

If the Washington Post and the Brady Campaign are going to insist that HR6691 changes the open carrying law, they need to provide the evidence as well as the accusation.

*click here to take a look at D.C.’s Official Code online)

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at September 8, 2008 - 7:04 pm and is filed under Lefty Loons, Media & Press, Nanny State, Politics, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.