Barry aims for gun-ban hiatus

[sar]

http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20070206-115722-3302r.htm

Barry aims for gun-ban hiatus
By Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 7, 2007


D.C. Council member Marion Barry yesterday introduced legislation that would suspend the District's 30-year ban on handguns, providing gun owners a 90-day period to register weapons they would then be allowed to legally own.
"We are in the midst of a gun-violence epidemic," said Mr. Barry, Ward 8 Democrat. "We need to see gun violence as an emergency in the District of Columbia."
Mr. Barry's bill, which only applies to pistols, would allow D.C. residents with no criminal record to register guns for 90 days from the law's enactment. After the 90-day period, current gun restrictions would be reinstated.
Barry spokesman Keith Perry said the bill is "an acknowledgment that people do have guns" in the District and would help police better track weapons used in the commission of crimes.
The District has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation and restricts ownership of most guns that were not registered before 1977. Privately owned rifles and shotguns must be kept at home and stored unloaded, disassembled or bound by a trigger lock or a similar device.
Mr. Barry's proposal would increase the penalties for possessing an unregistered weapon in the District from a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
A second offense could result in 30 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, according to the bill.
Mr. Barry, who was robbed at gunpoint in his Southeast apartment in January 2006, cited statistics that said police had confiscated 2,656 guns last year, with 51 percent of those weapons being seized east of the Anacostia River.
A recent Metropolitan Police Department report on homicides from 2001 to 2005 states that 901 of 1,126 homicide victims, or about 80 percent, were fatally shot.
Mr. Barry, who served four terms as D.C. mayor, also referenced the recent shooting deaths of D.C. teenagers Cynthia Gray and Taleshia Ford, both 17, in urging support for the measure.
"We all get outraged ... and we all go home," Mr. Barry said. "Nothing is done to get the guns off the streets of Washington, D.C."
Mr. Barry's bill was co-sponsored by council members Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat; Kwame Brown, at-large Democrat; and Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Democrat. It was referred to the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.

 

[Outlaw Man]

I read that and almost had a heart attack. One of our anti-gun Senators has the same name except spelled different. I didn't notice the difference at first.


I hope he can make it work. Those poor people need some help and this is at least seems like a small step in the right direction.

 

[svtruth]

What Percentage of

DC residents have no criminal record?
But I applaud the bill.
Good luck.

 

[vynx]

Mr. Barry's proposal would increase the penalties for possessing an unregistered weapon in the District from a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
A second offense could result in 30 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, according to the bill.

I don't applaud the bill --- after 90 days he wants these penalties if caught with an unregisterred firearm!

If he gave criminals these penalties his problems would be over!

 

[Robert Hairless]

If I read that article correctly, DC gun owners would register their guns during a 90-day period in which they would legally own them. At the end of that 90-day period, the present harsh laws would be reinstated automatically and they no longer could own the guns they registered.

Such a deal! How could anyone turn it down?

 

[xd45gaper]

Barry spokesman Keith Perry said the bill is "an acknowledgment that people do have guns" in the District and would help police better track weapons used in the commission of crimes.

what makes him think that gun registration is going to help the police track crimes.?? also if there is an ALL OUT BAN on weapons in the city what makes him think that registering guns will have any affect on the "epidemic" maybe if the would allow lawful citizens to own handguns they wouldnt be having an epidemic right now..

this is just another piece of evidence that gun bans do not work. he wants to get guns off the street with bans and registrations but all he is doing is helping the criminals out and slipping the bone to the honest joe that is stuck in that city.

 

[xd45gaper]

If I read that article correctly, DC gun owners would register their guns during a 90-day period in which they would legally own them. At the end of that 90-day period, the present harsh laws would be reinstated automatically and they no longer could own the guns they registered.

Such a deal! How could anyone turn it down?

lol it doesnt really make sense. so what he is saying is for a 90 day period you are free to own your gun in the city as long as you register it once you get it registered and the 90 days is up you are in direct violation of the law AND they know who has guns so all they have to do is come pick you up and haul you to jail for 10 years?

 

[bumm]

I'm not sure just what to make of this. On the surface, it appears to allow residents of DC to legally own a handgun. However, all it does is give a 90 day window to REGISTER your handgun without being charged with owning one illegally. After that, the penalties for owning an UNregistered handgun go WAY up.
So ~~ if later on, they decide you can no longer have a handgun, they know right where they are...
Marty

 

[alan]

That this bum actually occupies elective office continues to amaze one.

Of course, there was a former Mayor of Boston, who despite having been charged, indicted, tried, found guilty and serving time in prison, ran for and obtained re-election to office, while in jail. That gentleman's name was Curly.

 

[vynx]

I think this is just step #1 - get fools to register firearms - promise then they can have them if stored so they are useless for SD

Step #2 ciomes next year - outlaw all firearms even if registerred - now that you have a list of registerred firearms do like the Nazi's did and go house to house and pick them up!

This is exactly why registration should be illegal at all gov't levels!

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

Aren't handguns completely illegal in Washington D.C.?

So, we "legalize" them for 90 days, in which people must register them. On day 91, they become illegal again and now we know where they are!!!!

 

[Igloodude]

My first reaction was "this DC city council member is on crack if he thinks people are going to register their guns so that they can get arrested three months later."

Then I recognized the name Marion Berry.

Rarely is my gut instinct proven correct quite so quickly.

 

[geekWithA.45]

I keep thinking this has something to do w/ the Parker case, though that seems a little farfetched.

 

[bowline]

Geek, wouldn't it kind of destroy 'standing' in the Parker case? I was under the impression that the case is based on the reasonable belief that there is no mechanism for owning a pistol in DC that doesn't get you arrested/prosecuted.

 

[tasco 74]

W O W!!!! i can think of nothing to say....................................

 

[LAR-15]

Aren't handguns completely illegal in Washington D.C.?

Handguns are NOT totally illegal in DC.

I believe antique handguns (like those made in or before 1898) can still be bought sold there.

Since 1977 it's been illegal to buy, own or register handguns.

Those handguns already registered can be kept by their owners in DC. There was grandfathering

Seems to me this bill is opening up another registration period.

Nowhere does it say in the article it would make gun owners criminals again after 90 days.PROVE ME WRONG.

You'd have 90 days to buy and register a pistol and it would be legal to keep in DC forever afterward unless you take it out of the District and do not register it there.

Basically it's giving people with an otherwise clean criminal record a chance to register their (as of right now) illegally kept pistols in DC and keep them lawfully.

Oh and don't think politicians on the Hill wouldn't want and take advantage of this.

And yes it would gut the Parker Case.

I would not be surprised if the DC Council did not pass something like a 2 day registration period so as to sink the Parker challenge to DC's pistol laws. 2 days and very little publicity. It prolly takes more than 2 days to register a gun in DC.

 

[Zundfolge]

[tin foil hat]Whats going on is that the antis know that gun ownership by law abiding citizens lowers crime, so they will encourage people who are stuck living there to buy and register guns for these 90 days ... then they'll get the crime reducing advantages of gun ownership but when the laws return to the way they are now they can claim that lower crime rates are possible with strict gun control. Sneaky bastards.[/tin foil hat]

 

[bumm]

I don't think a 90 day registration period will really have any effect on crime rates. SOME guns are already there, and criminals know that. If anything, many large cities are experiencing a rise in violent crime lately, mainly because of a jump in the number of young males of the "right age" coming along. Antis would probably blame any crime increase on more citizens having guns.
No way in Hell would I live in Washington DC anyway.
Marty

 

[xd45gaper]

im still trying to figure out how

Barry spokesman Keith Perry said the bill is "an acknowledgment that people do have guns" in the District and would help police better track weapons used in the commission of crimes.

if the police cant keep law and order during an all out gun ban how is this going to help them keep track of "regesterd" weapons used in crimes???

 

[roscoe]

Marionberry is my favorite pie. Yuummm!

Where could the locals buy handguns? There are no stores that sell them in DC.

 

[Colt46]

The cynic in me says this registration is the first step

I don't like the smell of the whole situation at all.

 

[coxhw]

Maybe DC should succeed form the Union. We'd all be better off. Politicians included.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

LOL...


Gun amnesty ---> Registration ---> Confiscation.



I really hope this happens. I do. DC is a lost cause, and a filthy cess pool anyway. This will help the RKBA, because it will show all of America what government is capable of doing.



All the fence sitting moderates can see for themselves how registation will result in confiscation.


Barry should lay off the crack....oh, nevermind!

 

[nobody_special]

Grandfathering is (in my opinion) just as bad as outright confiscation, in some ways. It gives some people more rights than others. Consider a gun owner who moves to DC (maybe for job or family reasons). Say this gun owner owned a handgun during the legal registration period. Because he didn't live in DC at the time, they weren't registered and thus he can't legally own his handgun in DC.

So he moves to DC without his handgun, while many other DC residents can legally own handguns which were grandfathered. It doesn't seem right. And it's not just the inequity of this situation which bothers me... if you're going to ban something, ban it, have confiscation and deal with the consequences. (Or try... ) Grandfathering clauses are just a trap to make people who already own guns complacent and more comfortable with gun bans.

 

[Soybomb]

I wonder why he thinks making guns even more illegaler (I like stupid logic deserves stupid words) is going to cut down on gun violence. No matter how illegal cocaine is he can't seem to quit using it.

Mr. Barry, who was robbed at gunpoint in his Southeast apartment in January 2006

Oddly enough many people think it was mr barry's coke dealer that robbed him.