The D.C. Council on Tuesday adopted an emergency anti-crime bill that further tightens the city’s gun laws, raises mandatory minimum sentences for certain felonies and criminalizes riding in a vehicle where there is an illegal firearm.
What the measure, offered by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, does not do is institute any new measures for tackling a growing gang problem ahead of the traditionally violent summer. That led several council members to oppose what they deemed toothless and watered-down legislation.
“The underlying bill is as weak as tea and will result in no tangible results this summer,” at-large Councilman David Catania said before voting against the legislation, along with two colleagues.
Mendelson dismissed the argument that law enforcement lacks crime-fighting tools to battle the summer crime spike. There needs to be a legislative focus on “more effective strategies,” he said, not constitutionally suspect proposals that may not work.
“Between the police and the prosecutors, we have two volumes of the D.C. Code,” he said. “There are plenty of tools.”
The emergency bill sets harsher penalties for using a stolen vehicle to commit a violent crime, creates a gun offender registry and eases the way for prosecutors to detain an allegedly violent criminal pretrial.
It criminalizes riding in a vehicle if there is an illegal firearm known to be in the vehicle. And it expands classes of people barred from possessing a firearm to include drug addicts and anyone dishonorably discharged from the armed forces.
The most contentious anti-crime proposal, offered by Mayor Adrian Fenty and backed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the police union, would have empowered prosecutors to break up street gangs using court-ordered civil injunctions. It was rejected by a 9-4 vote.
“This is what the entire law enforcement community in Washington is asking for,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans. “If we do nothing, then we are responsible for what happens.”
Critics argued that civil injunctions threatened civil liberties — innocent bystanders may be swept up by police and tagged as gang members by the courts, they said. The proposal, said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, was “gimmickry” and would lead to racial profiling.
“Once a young person is labeled as a gang member, whether they are or not, that is a tag that can never be removed,” said Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr.
Bag fee approved
» The council gave final approval to a 5-cent fee on all paper and plastic bags used by consumers of grocery, liquor, convenience and drugstores. Four of five cents will be directed to an Anacostia River cleanup fund. The ultimate goal is to reduce trash in area waterways.
