In a 5-4 decision on June 28th the Supreme Court struck down Chicago’s ban on handguns. Chicago mayor Richard Daley was left shaking his head. The previous week had been an exceptionally bloody one with 54 people shot over a single weekend. His distaste could be felt by many across the country. DC’s delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, saw it quite another way. In a June 30th press release she praised a decision that “appears to vindicate and to sanction gun laws like the District’s new and revised gun laws”.
She has some ideas for controlling guns but nothing so ambitious as to actually get them off the streets. She may not be the champion of the gun lobby, but she’s shown herself to be accommodating. Here’s their current bargain: D.C, if you desire representation, Eleanor, if you actually want to cast a vote that will be counted, then you must be willing to sacrifice your community in exchange.
Attached to the D.C. voting rights bill is what’s commonly known as a poison pill. In this case, it’s a provision which would weaken Washington D.C.’s gun control laws by repealing restrictions on semiautomatic weapons, loosening registration requirements for guns, and ending criminal penalties for owners of unregistered firearms.
The gutting of the D.C. voting rights bill highlights both the power and perniciousness of the National Rifle Association (NRA). This war profiteering company – which operates under the auspices of a Second Amendment rights organization – has single-handedly hallowed the Second Amendment and inserted the camaraderie of southern brotherhood in its place.
Their success is largely due to a seismic fraud perpetrated by the gun lobby which pushes the fantastical tale that the right to bear arms is a long standing freedom which should be blindly cherished by all Americans. Thus, gun control advocates are enemies of freedom (heard that before?) whose efforts must be thwarted at every turn. This would be a valid point, if true.
In order to fully understand why the attempts to thwart gun control legislation are folly, let us begin by tracing it from inception. Gun control laws were initially instated by the beneficiaries of slave labor who were petrified at the idea of freed blacks defending themselves against the most vile domestic terrorists in American history – the Klu Klux Klan. Yes, gun control largely began at the hands of those who now dare us to pry the glock nine from their cold, clenched fists.
And just as the former slave owners lived in fear of retribution from those who they’d abused, many of us live in fear of being mowed down by a gang member with an AK-47 and a grudge. The NRA would suggest that I buy my own gun and shoot back but being in the midst of crossfire has never been a dream of mine. I would prefer that the semiautomatic weapon be removed from the market in the first place so that the disgruntled and confused young man doesn’t have access to it.
But, the attempts of most gun control advocates to negotiate and triangulate the gun rights issue in an effort to afford people freedom while implementing common sense controls has always met with rigid defiance from the NRA.
Truth be told, the NRA doesn’t wage war on behalf of the Second Amendment, but on behalf of those who earn a fortune selling automatic weapons to young boys in war torn African nations, and their kin right here in America.
If you need proof, just glance at the Second Amendment which reads as follows: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Under the leadership of the NRA, the Second Amendment, intended to protect Americans from tyrants, has been perverted to fatten the very entities who the founding fathers sought to protect us from. The District of Columbia is just the next in a long line of counties, states, and individuals who’ve fallen victim to the empty rhetoric of the NRA and their confused supporters.
Eleanor Holmes Norton is now allowing gun ownership of all types, sizes, and varieties for every man, woman, and child who currently reside in the District of Columbia in exchange for a right which should’ve be granted long ago. Ms. Norton has announced her support for the voting rights bill but the outcome remains unsure. In more ways than one, Norton is playing Russian roulette with the city she claims to love. Let’s all hope that the chamber is empty.
Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill Staffer turned political blogger. She currently publishes two blogs, Spatterblog.com and GoGirlGuide.com.
