A question of guns

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Most of the points in that paper are defending common-sense gun legislation, which is a component of the also uncommonly restrictive gun laws that currently exist in DC. The purpose of the ammendment is to force DC's hand in rewriting the law to be fair and in line with the laws of most states. For example: Nobody seriously wants people with criminal records to be able purchase a firearm for instance, on either side of the debate. That just happens to be a component of the bad law, and both sides would want it to continue to be a component of a rewritten law.

The part of the law they're trying to undo by forcing a rewrite is that currently, DC residents can't own handguns at all (well, technically they can, but they have to apply for a permit from the chief of police, who never grants it unless you're someone very very special). DC residents *can* own simple shotguns and long rifles under some very restrictive circumstances, one of which was (before Heller struck it down) that the gun had to be stored disassembled and locked up, preventing any chance of defensive use.

Given that in a rewritten and NRA-approved version of the law, most of the measures being highlighted in that paper would still be part of the law, there's not much to debate. Many other states have most of these basic restrictions in place re: criminal records, registration of guns, importation controls, etc. For that matter most of these matters are also regulated by federal law anyways.

The only point they raise that gun-rights advocates would want to see dropped is the first one, regarding "high capacity ammunition magazines" and "assault weapons". There was a federal assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004. It had no effect on crime and was allowed to sunset. Basically, virtually none of the gun deaths in the US, statistically speaking, are caused by assault rifles. The few that are, are invariably caused by unregistered assault weapons which are owned by criminals who aren't allowed, by federal law, to even buy a simple handgun or bolt-action hunting rifle (and another law or ban does nothing to stop these people).

Assault weapon bans remove rights from the law-abiding citizens while having no effect on crime. Further, assault rifles are effective defense tools. Every deputy in my local sheriff's department carries an AR-15 in their trunk. There's a reason they do that: it's a very effective tool in some situations, even for the good guys. Going back to my point about police response times: if it's effective for them, it's effective for us too.

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