Gun rights advocates sparred with members of the D.C. Council and parents of murdered children in an emotional three-and-a-half-hour hearing Wednesday over whether city residents should be allowed to own handguns.
The hearing, held by Public Safety and Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson, D-at large, was the first of a likely long public debate over gun violence in the District. It follows a U.S. Court of Appeals decision March 9 striking down a 1975 ban on handgun ownership in the city as unconstitutional.
Mayor Adrian Fenty, Acting Attorney General Linda Singer and a number of council members have vowed to appeal the ruling.
Kenneth Barnes, whose son was gunned down outside a District nightclub in 2001, testified about a culture of violence among city teenagers who consider having a gun a necessity for their own safety. Barnes founded ROOT Inc., a District nonprofit aimed at addressing causes of violence in city neighborhoods.
“A gun is a rite of passage now,” Barnes said.
But well-known District civil rights activist Valencia Mohammed, who lost two children to gun violence, testified on behalf ofwhat she called her constitutional right to own a handgun.
“I’m tired of ducking and diving and hiding and acting scared about a gun,” Mohammed said.
Council Member Marion Barry, D-Ward 8, introduced a bill last month that would have opened gun registration for a period of 90 days with the intent of helping lawmen track down illegal weapons in the city after the window closed. Barry tussled from the dais with Mike Stollenwerk of OpenCarry.org, a Web site devoted to gun rights. Stollenwerk defended handgun ownership as a matter of self-protection.
Barry invited Stollenwerk to “spend a month with me.”
“I want you to hear these gunshots,” Barry told Stollenwerk, who in turn invited the council member to spend time with him in Virginia, which allows residents to openly carry guns.
