Tuesday, April 20, 2010

DC Voting Rights Bill Abandoned in the House

The Washington Examiner reported in this story that the House has abandoned legislation that would have given Washington D.C. a voting member in the House of Representatives, and the House leadership blamed the National Rifle Association, whose gun-rights amendment to the bill was unacceptable to anti-gun rights House members.

Leaving aside the questionable Constitutionality of this bill, the rationale of the anti-gun faction is typical of the traditional objections that they raise.  My own favorite anti-gun Senator, Diane Feinstein, had this to say:

 "I believe the District will become much less safe, and the opportunity for criminals, mentally unstable persons and juveniles to purchase weapons will increase dramatically,"
"increase dramatically" as opposed to the situation in Washington D.C. now where criminals have no real trouble finding access to guns, guns that are illegal for them to possess, and that are illegal for others to provide to the criminals?

The same old tired arguments and are increasingly being shown to be untrue by liberalized gun carry laws in other states.  With the passage of "constitutional carry", allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons without permits, in Arizona, there is an opportunity for an experiment.  Will gun violence increase, decrease, or stay the same in Phoenix, a large metropolitan area like Washington D.C.?  I offer this prediction:  gun violence will either decrease or stay at the same level.  Society does not have to fear the law-abiding because these people are not inclined to commit crimes, with or without guns.

Gun Control: An idea based on the assumption that people not inclined to follow laws prohibiting armed robbery, assault, murder, rape, kidnapping, and other violent crimes, will follow the laws regulating the possession and transfer of guns.

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