Now the Washington D.C. police chief is claiming that HR6691 allows people to carry loaded guns in public in the District. I guess she got the Brady Campaign press release. I’d still like someone to point out to me where this bill does anything to address the issue of carrying firearms outside the home.
UPDATE: More here.
Hat tip to Carl in Chicago
I thik the answer to your question might lie in their take of the bill’s preamble, Sec. 2 (5):
“(5) The Federal Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended by the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986, and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, provide comprehensive Federal regulations applicable in the District of Columbia as else where. In addition, existing District of Columbia criminal laws punish possession and illegal use of firearms by violent criminals and felons. Consequently, there is no need for local laws which only affect and disarm law-abiding citizens.”
I think they might be (over) reading that last sentence to imply that the bill would over-ride ALL local laws and apply ONLY federal law in the district.
And as far as I know, the carrying of loaded firearms in public is subject to state, not federal, law.
Does anyone see this getting anywhere in the Senate? I certainly don’t. I see it fading into oblivion, without so much as a whimper–but hey, at least we can claim (yet another) symbolic victory.
Yay.
“allows people to carry loaded guns in the streets”
gee…cops are people, too…no wait, “We’re the Only Ones…”
The headline for the Washington Post story linked at the top of this blog entry reads as, “Gun Bill Dangerous, D.C. Chief Tells House”.
It would be a whole lot more accurate for it to read as something like, “House Tells D.C. Chief And City Leaders They Are Dangerous To Civil Rights”.
After all, this is the very same police chief who established those unconstitutional stop and search checkpoints at the entrances of one of her city’s neighborhoods earlier this year. Now she’s obfuscating the facts to thwart the Heller decision and the second amendment itself.
Here’s where the Brady Bunch specifies and cites which sections of HR 6691 allows children to mount .50 cals on the back of trucks and park outside the White House, among other nonsense.
http://www.bradycampaign.org/xshare/pdf/fedleg/HR6691-summary.pdf
Thanks Caveman:
Can anyone post the DC Official Code … one that is indexed by the same numerical system that is used in HR 6691? When I went here:
http://government.westlaw.com/linkedslice/default.asp?SP=DCC-1000
I was not able to find the particular referenced sections that the bill refers to. I tried particularly to legitimize Brady’s claim that HR 6691 would “allow
teenagers and children to carry loaded assault rifles by repealing all age
restrictions on the possession of long guns (H.R. 6691 § 5(b)(1)).”
In reference to that, the bill would repeal “Sections 202 through 211 (secs. 7–2502.02 through 7–2502.11, D.C. Official Code).”
I cannot find those Sections in the DC Official Code, via which I could substantiate or falsify Brady’s claim.
11 through 7–2502.11, D.C. Official Code)
I wish they WOULD put a *concealed carry* provision in the bill, just to rub their noses in it, but that can come later, I guess.