Gun arrest gives Webb political opening

< Prev | 1 | 2

Collins works on alternative; blasts D bill

Rather than allow that vote, Democratic leaders temporarily shunted aside the entire D.C. representation bill. They have pledged to bring the legislation back after the Easter recess, and the Republican sponsor of the bill, Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, said Tuesday that Democratic leaders could find a parliamentary method of ruling Smith’s gun measure non-germane.

Republican amused at Webb comments
Smiling with amusement at Webb’s defense of gun owners’ rights, Smith jokingly wondered if Webb would send a letter to House Democrats urging them to support his effort to scrap the district’s gun ban.

“We’ve heard for so long how strong the Democrats felt about voting rights for D.C. residents, and yet they were willing to kill the bill rather than allow D.C. residents to have firearms to protect themselves against criminals,” Smith said.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

He supports retro-ceding most D.C. territory back to Maryland and thus giving all people now residing in the district representation by Maryland’s members of the House.

Last week when Smith unveiled his gun provisions, D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton denounced the move as “disgusting” and said, “All that they got was a nuisance delay, but we will get our bill any day now.”

Some House Democrats would vote for Smith’s gun proposal if it were on the floor. One of them, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. said Tuesday, “I just don’t believe gun control laws work. What we see is that communities where they have strict gun control laws actually have more problems with crime than communities that don’t.”

He said crime in Washington, D.C., itself was evidence of that: “That proves the point."

He added that "people that know how to handle guns, there should be no prohibition against them having a gun.”

Democrat keeps guns in his office
Peterson said his constituents in his mostly rural Minnesota district are aware of the D.C. gun ban. “They ask me questions about what I do with my guns. The answer is they’re in my (Capitol) office because it’s legal,” Peterson said.

Asked how he gets his guns from his residence to his office, Peterson said, “It’s not very far to the Virginia line.”

Federal law allows members of Congress “or their agents” to transport unloaded and securely wrapped firearms to and from the Capitol grounds.

On March 9, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia overturned part of the district’s gun ban. District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty has pledged to fight that ruling, possibly by appealing to the Supreme Court.

While the city moves to petition the full Court of Appeals for rehearing, the gun law remains in effect.

< Prev | 1 | 2