A proposed gun amendment to the D.C. House Voting Rights Act could triple gun purchases, increase gun violence in the region, hamstring District and U.S. Capitol police and could hinder a major terrorist attack, according to U.S. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

At a hearing last week convened by Norton, federal and District officials in law enforcement and emergency management said the gun amendment would have an adverse impact on homeland security.

“Before us today is whether appointed and elected federal officials, employees, visitors and the federal presence would be more or less secure under the Ensign gun amendment, which would allow military style weapons, including .50 caliber armor-piercing guns to be legally possessed, without limit on the number, in the nation’s capital,” Norton said last week during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.

Norton said the nation’s capital ranks in the top four areas at risk for terrorist threats along with New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

“The recent inauguration, the largest event ever held in the nation’s capital, with an estimated two million people in attendance, including foreign dignitaries, entertainment stars and virtually every important federal and state official in the United States, is perhaps the quintessential example of what makes the work of elected officials, police and security officials in our nation’s capital uniquely difficult,” Norton said.

Norton said employees could bring guns to a Wizards game at the Verizon Center, to a National’s baseball game at Nationals Park, to a national conference at the Convention Center, to Pepco headquarters, to law offices, and to other small and large workplaces throughout the city, to churches and other places of worship, to bars, restaurants and nightclubs, to hotels, to power plants and to all District government offices.

“No risk is more apparent to homeland security in particular than the widespread availability of firearms,” she said. 

District of Columbia Attorney General Peter Nickels testified that since D.C. officials have enacted new gun laws that fully comply with the Supreme Court’s Heller v. District of Columbia decision, 400 hand guns and 160 long guns have been registered. The proposed gun amendment, however, would repeal all of the District’s gun laws, eliminating a layer needed to protect elected and appointed federal officials and visitors.

According to The Washington Post, "a recent survey depicts an urban D.C. environment where 80 percent of youths are 'highly exposed' to gun violence." Most of the young people who participated in the survey were African-American.

Political insiders told BlackAmericaWeb.com there is growing support for Norton’s position, even though the National Rifle Association is working hard to undermine her efforts. Many black D.C. residents say they appreciate Norton’s persistence and willingness to take on the formidable NRA.

"The issue of giving the District of Columbia representation has been 'hijacked,' as one aide characterized it, by those favoring a lifting of many gun restrictions in Washington D.C. Conservative Democrats who favor gun rights have been caught in the middle as the matter shifts to the House," according to The New York Times.

D.C Mayor Adrian Fenty said D.C. residents are eager enough to have a vote in Congress that they would support a voting rights bill, even if it included amendments that weaken the city's gun control laws. 

Fenty's stance has drawn criticism from Norton and local lawmakers, who say if a gun amendment passes, it will be extremely difficult to remove it later. Fenty told The Washington Post it would be a "tough call" to accept an amendment, but he hopes the city "won't have to make that choice."

"But if we had to make that call on a close margin, I do believe .....

Please Login or Register to post comments on this article

Close Comment  |   Read More Comments Hide More Comments

Comments * :

Please do not enter the HTML tags(Maximum 600 characters).