The National Rifle Association might be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Or it might be shooting itself in the foot. Choose your cliche.
Having won a major Supreme Court decision that finally proclaims the Second Amendment does indeed convey an individual’s right to bear arms, the NRA is pushing a bill in Congress that is so radical it could turn moderate, sensible, reasonable gun owners against it.
Such as me, a proud member of the NRA.
At the same time, the NRA has allowed the nuttiest congressmen to parade their intellectual inadequacies before the American public, as I witnessed in yesterday’s hearing on H.R. 6691.
For background, consider that gun rights activists celebrated the Heller v. D.C. case in June, in which the Supreme Court overturned D.C.’s ban on handguns. The decision cleared the way for lawsuits contesting gun control laws in cities and states across the country.
Not content with this landmark victory, the NRA convinced gun-crazed congressmen to introduce a bill that would force the District to become the most gun-loving city in the country. H.R. 6691 would ban D.C. from requiring any registration of firearms, it would allow anyone to own a semiautomatic rifle, it would permit people to carry .50-caliber weapons down Pennsylvania Avenue, within range of the White House.
Even good Republicans were grossed out.
“The cynical and selective manipulation of District issues in the service of external political agendas diminishes our legitimate oversight and legislative authority,” said Rep. Thomas Davis III, of Virginia, “and is a disservice to the citizens of our nation’s capital.”
The most “disserved” citizen was Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Seated at the witness table with top brass from the Park Police, Capitol Police, U.S. Marshals Service and Secret Service, Lanier had to suffer though inane exchanges like this one:
Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho: “Washington has the highest murder rate in the country. You would agree with that, right?
Lanier: “No.”
Sali: “Why not?”
Lanier: “There are many cities where the rate is higher. I think we are tenth.”
Or this demeaning question from Virginia Foxx, a white-haired Republican from North Carolina: “What else are you doing to hold down crime other than ban guns?”
Credit Cool Cathy Lanier for not leaping out of her chair.
Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen pointed out that H.R. 6691 would not allow D.C. to institute laws that limit owners to buying one gun a month, similar to laws in Maryland and Virginia. And D.C. could not regulate transportation of guns across state lines.
In short, the proposed law would create a city free of any regulation of firearms.
I have a few suggestions: First, District-bashing congressmen should get their facts right, so they don’t come off as brain-dead; and Congress should let D.C. create its own laws, before it begins to meddle in local affairs.
And the NRA should bask in its Supreme Court victory rather than showing itself to be a radical group of wing nuts.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
