Posts Tagged ‘Washington D.C.’

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DC Handgun Ban Struck Down; DC Police Chief Capitulates?

Sunday, July 27th, 2014

DC gun ban struck down in federal court:

Judge Frederick Scullin concluded that current prohibitions are an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, in a win for gun rights advocates.

Based on previous court rulings striking down gun laws in D.C., Chicago and elsewhere, “there is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny,” Scullin wrote in his 19-page decision, which was unsealed on Saturday.

Now, via Ted Cruz staffer Josh Perry, comes two tweets that, if true, smell a whole lot like “Total Victory.”

Now, via Josh Perry, come two tweets that, if true, small a whole lot like “Total Victory.”

Still waiting for SMSM confirmation that D.C. Chief of Police Cathy Lanier has issued this order, but if true, this is the final culmination of the second amendment rights that DC vs. Heller confirmed finally being actually fulfilled.

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Posted in Guns, Supreme Court | No Comments »

Dwight Goes to Town Fisking Those WaPo Gun Pieces

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

I’ve already put in my two cents worth on the first installment of that Washington Post series on guns used in area crimes and the gun shops where they were originally bought.

But Dwight Brown at Whipped Cream Difficulties digs into the issue like a dachshund pursuing a badger, fisking each piece for a host of questionable assertions, gaps, omissions, and unasked questions. Not once, but twice, with more promised. But would you expect any less of a man with a “FRONT TOWARD ENEMY” t-shirt?

His pimp hand is strong.

If you’re interested in the issue at all, you should give it a read.

Edited to add: And here’s part 3.

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Posted in Crime, Guns, Media Watch | No Comments »

Washington Post Gun Article Followup

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Yesterday I mentioned what I thought was the largest problem in that David S. Fallis Washington Post article on Realco: The failure to mention that the shop is the one nearest the District of Columbia and located in an overwhelmingly black (and high crime) area.

However, reading through that article, I couldn’t help be struck by all the other information Fallis and the Post seemed uninterested in pursuing because they thought of this as a gun story rather than a crime story. Instead of spending all that time pouring through 35,000 gun traces, they could have taken the same 18-year period they traced 86 guns (i.e. roughly 4.8 guns a year involved in homicide) back to Realco, and looked at all (by my count) 4,911 homicides in the District of Columbia. They could have looked at each convicted offender (certainly less than the 4,911 number) and tried to find out:

  • Which had already committed felonies
  • Which already had a warrant out for their arrest at the time they murdered someone
  • Which were on probation at the time they murdered someone
  • What level of education they had obtained before committing their crime (how many were high school dropouts)
  • Which came from single-parent homes
  • Which came from homes where the primary source of income was government welfare
  • How many were involved in the illegal drug trade
  • The race of the murderer
  • The race of the victim
  • Sex of the murderer (almost certainly overwhelmingly male)
  • Sex of the victim (ditto, though I suspect less overwhelmingly)
  • If the murderer already knew their victim
  • Etc.

A comprehensive look at all those variables would have provided a valuable, multifaceted look at inner city crime in the DC area, and could have generated real insights into the problems and possible solutions to them.

Sadly, I suspect such a project would have seemed far less sexy to Washington Post editors than yet another “Guns are bad, mmmkay?” article to pander to their core liberal readership.

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Posted in Crime, Guns | 3 Comments »

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