Report: NRA-Backed Bill Would Allow Military-Style Weapons On Streets Of Nation's Capital

[marmar]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2008
2:05 PM
CONTACT: Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
[phone]


Report: NRA-Backed Bill Would Allow Military-Style Weapons On Streets Of Nation's Capital

WASHINGTON - September 15 - The Brady Center has issued a report, Capital Under Fire, analyzing the impact of a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives that would eliminate most of the gun laws in the District of Columbia.

"It is hard to believe that the recent anniversary of the terrible losses suffered on 9/11 will be followed so closely by the House considering a bill threatening Homeland Security and our nation's capital city," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Center. "This proposal by the gun lobby would allow AK-47's, .50-caliber sniper rifles, and other military-style weapons on the streets of D.C. Congress needs to defeat this ill-considered proposal."

The Brady Center report highlights the real-world effects the bill, H.R. 6691, could have on the Nation's Capital. It would allow people to carry loaded assault weapons on city streets. It would remove restrictions barring gun possession by people who have committed violent or drug-related misdemeanor crimes unrelated to domestic violence; by mental patients who had been voluntarily committed to a mental institution; and even by the blind. Teenagers and children would be allowed to carry assault and sniper rifles, as the bill repeals all age restrictions on the possession of long guns. D.C. would be barred from imposing any reasonable requirements on gun possession, such as firearms proficiency or vision testing.

DC Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier told a Congressional committee on September 9, 2008 to "imagine how difficult it will be for law enforcement to safeguard the public, not to mention the new President at the Inaugural Parade, if carrying semi-automatic rifles were suddenly to become legal in Washington."

The report is available on the Brady Center website at http://www.bradycenter.org/xshare/pdf/reports/capital-under-fire.pdf.

Among its findings:

* In addition to military-style assault rifles, the bill would allow open carrying of .50 caliber sniper rifles, capable of destroying armored personnel carriers, aircraft and bulk fuel and ammunition sites. These guns can penetrate several inches of steel, a three and a half inch manhole cover, or a 600-pound safe. They are accurate at up to 2,000 yards, and can inflict effective damage to targets over four miles away.

* The bill would allow people on terrorist watch lists to possess and carry assault rifles in the Capital city as long as they did not yet have a criminal or other record that otherwise prohibited them.

* The bill would allow many people who have committed a violent or drug-related misdemeanor crime to possess a gun.

Proponents of the bill claim it is needed to "restore Second Amendment rights in the District of Columbia" even though the Supreme Court's June 26, 2008 decision on the Second Amendment in D.C. v. Heller does not mandate the "any gun, anywhere" policy of H.R. 6691. While that decision struck down D.C.'s ban on handguns in the home, Justice Scalia wrote that a wide range of gun laws are "presumptively lawful." This bill attempts to strip D.C. of virtually all its gun laws while the D.C. government is in the midst of rewriting its laws to protect the rights actually recognized in Heller.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post have editorialized in strong opposition to the bill. Harry Jaffe, a columnist for the conservative D.C. Examiner newspaper and self-described National Rifle Association member, wrote "the NRA is pushing a bill in Congress that is so radical it could turn moderate, sensible, reasonable gun owners against it."

A vote on H.R. 6691 could come as early as Tuesday, September 16, 2008.



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http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/09/15-7

[Mojorabbit]

1. This is absolute baloney. nt

[DrDan]

2. in what respect?

[benEzra]

8. Military automatic weapons are tightly controlled by Federal law, for one.

under the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act.

The Bradyites are scaremongering about a bill to allow licensed gun owners in the District to OWN (in their homes) ordinary magazine-fed civilian rifles and pistols like the rest of us in the USA can, not a proposal to legalize M16's and military AK-47's.

Currently, D.C. law defines any pistol or self-loading rifle as a "machinegun" if the magazine is detachable. I am not kidding.

[demnan]

3. Are they trying to make it easy

for someone to assassinate Obama?

[DrDan]

4. so - 4 ounces of shampoo is a threat on an airplane

but assault rifles are to be allowed on the streets of our capital.

I'm dreaming all this . . . right?

[texasleo]

5. Using 9-11 to push extreme leftist ideas. Nice.

[marmar]

7. Uh, okay.

:crazy:

[The Straight Story]

20. I thought it was odd how they mentioned 9/11 as well - it had nothing to do with guns

razors and planes...

[benEzra]

24. Not leftists. The Bradyites are authoritarian repubs. (n/t)

[cap]

6. so capitol hill where a lot of staffers live is very close to a violent neighborhood

and they want to do this?

Do these people know their ass from a hole in the ground?

[old mark]

9. "Military-STYLE" weapons....more gun control bullshit.

There are NO REAL AK weapons sold in the US. The "AK"s available here are semi-auto (one trigger-pull= one shot) weapons, NOT capable of the full-auto fire mode as are real AK military rifles. There is NO "easy" fix way to convert there rifles to fire full automatic - they are mainly collectors toys.

They are so seldom used in crime that the FBI stated years ago they are not significant, and the dreaded .50 caliber rifles are used by criminals even less frequently than the AK's.
Most .50 caliber rifles are bolt action, meaning they fire one shot, then must be manipulated by hand in an up-pull-push-down series of movememts using the trigger hand. They are primarily very long range target rifles, with pre-loaded ammunition not readily available in stores and costing about $5 per shot. They are no criminal's weapon of choice except in the mione of the Brady assholes and their political friends eager to rack up cheap points with the ignorant.

This is simply more fear mongering bullshit provided by the Republicans who run the anti-gun cult in the US.

mark

[spelldmilk]

14. What are you talking about? Was that last sentenced randomly generated?

[benEzra]

25. The Brady Campaign was founded by, and is run by, Reagan Repubs. (n/t)

[Bandit]

10. I guess we will see if Democrats have a majority or not.

:shrug: If Congress allows such as this then America deserves what it gets.

[aikoaiko]

11. Holy fuckin fear mongering ...

Most of the country allows its residents who aren't prohibited by law to keep and bear such guns and not much happens.

Basically, the Brady Campaign idiots are unhappy that DC residents will be enjoying more civil rights (a la the 2ned Amendment).

[marmar]

12. "the Brady Campaign idiots are unhappy that DC residents will be enjoying more civil rights "

Talk about fear-mongering.... :eyes:

[aikoaiko]

13. What fear do you propose I am mongering?

The proposed bill will allow law abiding citizen to more fully enjoy the civil right to protect themselves and the Brady imbeciles are against it.

[pnutbutr]

15. misleading

That is misleading. It will allow any weapon not restricted for ownership by the federal government to be owned by D.C. residents. Basically short barreled shotguns and rifles and machine guns meaning any weapons that fires more than one round with each trigger pull are out. It does not lift the restriction on felons owning guns. It does ease registration requirements but new purchases still must be registered.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.6691:

It's always better to read the bill itself than to rely on the media, any media to report it accurately without injecting it's own spin.

[Suji to Seoul]

16. To Quote The Arrogant Worms:

Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?
There'd be no more crime, 'cause everybody'd have a gun!
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?

Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?
We wouldn't need the police no more, 'cause everybody'd have a gun!
(Yeah!)
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?

Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun? (had a gun)
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun? (had a gun)
Nobody'd ever get shot, 'cause everybody'd have a gun! (Makes sense!)
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?

We could go out and shoot things
We could go out and shoot things
We could go out and shoot things
We could go out and shoot things
We could go out and shoot things
We could go out and shoot things
We'd all feel safe, 'cause everybody'd have a gun!

Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun? (had a gun)
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun? (had a gun)
Everyone'd be equal, 'cause everybody'd have a gun!
Not me, I got me a rifle!
Well hang on, if you got yourself a rifle then I wanna get me a semi-automatic weapon!
You get a semi-automatic weapon and I'm gonna want an automatic weapon!
You get yourself an automatic weapon, I'm gonna get a super-automatic weapon!
Well if you get a super-automatic weapon, then I'm gonna get a
super-duper-automatic weapon with a CD-ROM drive!
If you get yourself one of those I'm gonna get a
super-duper-automatic weapon with a CD-ROM drive, and a big old hard
drive, and a big guitar amp so I can play BTOs...
(rants on while the rest of the Worms sing)

Wouldn't it be great if everybody had the weapon of their choice?
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had the weapon of their choice?
Wouldn't it be great if everybody had a gun?

(Still ranting..)
I'll go so fast I'll be able to chase you from here to Saigon, and
then I'll shoot like little Nerf rockets at you and poke you in the
eye 'cause it'll have automatic like finger-poking in the eye
things and I'll get myself another guitar amp...

[fascisthunter]

17. fucking unbelievable... nobody needs this shit

[aikoaiko]

21. DC officials brought this on themselves by being completely unreasonable

Currently, they won't even allow people to own a 1911 pistol with an 8 round magazine. They call such a handgun a "machine gun".

This kind of completely unreasonable has motivated people and legislators to stop the insanity and let the people of DC have similar access like their Virginia neighbors.

[benEzra]

29. What shit?

fucking unbelievable... nobody needs this shit

What shit?

These?




These?




Need or not, between two and three times as many people own them as hunt. Face up to that fact, or bring down another 1994 in 2010.

[Richard Steele]

18. Ah, the Brady Center. Still paragons of honest, rational discourse, I see...

:sarcasm:

[old mark]

19. Mr Helmke, the head of the "brady comission"

is a Republican, and what his organization has been saying for the last few decades is complete and total bullshit.

mark

[meow2u3]

22. Let's turn this against the NRA

We can easily frame this issue depicting the NRA as favoring the idea of putting assault rifles in the hands of criminals and terrorists.

Why does the NRA want to make it easy for criminals to terrorize law-abiding citizens? :shrug:

[aikoaiko]

23. I think thats a bad idea.

There is nothing wrong with letting DC residents have access to the same guns as Virginians.

[old mark]

26. Either this is a joke, or really fucking stupid - please indicate which. nt

[benEzra]

27. Except that assault rifles are tightly controlled by Federal law and always have been...

and the Bradyites aren't actually scaremongering about actual assault rifles, but about the lawful ownership of the most popular non-automatic civilian rifles in America, not restricted military weapons.

This is the same crock of bullshit that cost the House and Senate in '94, when Gingrich and company suckered the DLC into passing the Feinstein law and then rode the backlash into office.

More Americans own "assault weapons," as the repubs at the Brady Campaign term them, than hunt.



"Assault weapons":


Ruger mini-14 Ranch Rifle, .223 Remington caliber



Benelli Steadygrip turkey hunting shotgun, 12-gauge



AR-15 platform, .223 Remington caliber, most popular centerfire target rifle in the USA



pre-ban Marlin Model 60 squirrel hunting/plinking rifle, .22LR caliber



And, according to current D.C. law, this is a "machinegun":


Smith & Wesson 3913 Ladysmith, 9mm

Make sense to you?

[ThomWV]

28. This is just absolute horseshit both factually and as a back door way to get Republicans elected

First off lets look at the second paragraph, where it says "This proposal by the gun lobby would allow AK-47's, .50-caliber sniper rifles, and other military-style weapons on the streets of D.C." It statement is simply a lie. The bill will not allow full automatic weapons (AK-47) nor is there any such thing as a .50-caliber 'sniper rifle'. This is just scare tactic bullshit. What is more important is that all the Republicans are doing here is trying to make gun control a campaign issue. Democrats would do well to set this aside until the new year and then address it like adults, taking facts and the Constitution as well as the decision by the Court on the matter to mind.