MILLER: D.C. folds in gun rights battle

The Washington Times ^ | 5-7-2012 | Emily Miller

[servo1969]

Give the Council of the District of Columbia some credit. They're actually responding to criticisms about how the city's gun laws are being implemented.

The council’s Judiciary Committee chairman, Phil Mendelson, used his oversight powers to force the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to make changes over the past two weeks so that officers would properly explain and enforce the three-year old firearms’ laws.

My series has exposed how the MPD’s firearm registry office has been misleading the public about the gun laws, but the police department refused to admit fault or make the necessary modifications. Finally, I approached Mr. Mendelson about the problems.

The At-large Democrat presented many of my complaints in a letter to Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier on April 9.

Mr. Mendelson instructed her both on fixing the implementation of current law and how to change methods to reflect the revised gun law which passed the council on April 17 and will cut some of the red tape in the registry process.

So MPD has begun making the changes needed to be in compliance. Most significantly, the department updated its website and gun registration documents to correct the mistakes.

Here are the firearms issues raised in my series, along with Mr. Mendelson’s oversight efforts and the MPD’s response:

[servo1969]

[SampleMan]

They won’t really change until sued into submission.

[NonValueAdded]

God Bless her! She is single-handedly moving a mountain.

[Pontiac]

As for giving residents the full perspective of the fees associated with gun ownership, which for me came to $465, the police would not, at first, abide by council request. The difference between the $60 in fees disclosed by the city and the actual cost of registering a gun should be disclosed because it could make it prohibitively expensive for most residents, especially those with low incomes who need self-defense the most.

So the Democrats are looking out for the Poor are they?

Talk about a regressive tax structure!

Basically the Democrats that control the DC city government have doubled (or more) the cost of obtaining the legal means of self defense. An average good quality pistol will cost you around $450.

The Democrats are forcing the poor of their city to be in violation of the law in order to effectively defend their lives and their property in one of the most violent and crime ridden cities in the nation.

[backwoods-engineer]

I LOVE her final line in the article:

So the fight won't be over until the pointless registration process is eliminated. The Second Amendment is my registration certificate.

(emphasis mine)

This is a fight we're winning, folks.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

I don’t see a wedding ring. That’s it! It is time to propose marriage!

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Or in Laz talk, I’d hit it so hard her slide would jam. I’m talking a polite and consensual hit. She is armed.