Don Vito Corleone teaches we should keep our freinds close, but our enemies closer.
So I subscribed to VPC's alert e-mail list.
Here's what they sent me today:
Dear Violence Policy Center Action Network Member:
PLEASE CALL THE U.S. CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD AT 202-224-3121 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND TELL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE TO VOTE AGAINST EFFORTS TO REPEAL WASHINGTON, DC'S GUN LAWS!
TO IDENTIFY YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, OR FOR DIRECT-DIAL INFO, VISIT http://action.vpc.org/ctt.asp?u=3059891&l=56690 FOR THE U.S. SENATE AND http://action.vpc.org/ctt.asp?u=3059891&l=56691 FOR THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Right now, the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to vote on a bill sponsored by Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) to overturn all of the District of Columbia's gun laws that are stricter than federal law. The bill currently has 228 co-sponsors. The bill, H.R. 3193, would: repeal the District's ban on handguns and semiautomatic weapons, including assault weapons; end firearm registration requirements; and, remove criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm. Under the bill, the District government would be denied the "authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms." A vote to add a similar measure to the District's fiscal year 2005 spending bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected tomorrow, Tuesday, September 21.
The effectiveness of the District's current ban on handgun possession is demonstrated by the fact that virtually none of the guns used in crime in the District originated here. Gun dealers in the District accounted for only three percent of recovered crime guns in 2000. In contrast, 59 percent of traceable D.C. crime guns were first purchased in Virginia and Maryland. Another 18 percent of D.C. crime guns were bought from gun dealers in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. All of these jurisdictions have gun laws far more lenient than the District of Columbia's.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO AS MANY OTHERS AS YOU CAN!
Thank you!
http://action.vpc.org/ctt.asp?u=3059891&l=56687
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(do not hotlink)
If VPC says we should oppose something, then I say lets make some calls supporting the change in the law.
The most outrageous statement in the e-mail is the claim that DC's draconian laws are effective because virtually none of the guns used in crime there were purchased there. That may be true, but the CRIMINALS STILL HAVE GUNS and the innocents DO NOT.
Screw these guys... deregulate guns in DC and let the citizens have their right to defense back!