The District of Columbia’s gun law is the strictest in the nation. Enacted by the District’s City Council in 1976, it prevents anyone but law enforcement officers from possessing handguns (see story on page 4). Long guns must be registered and kept at home. A law-abiding citizen caught possessing a handgun, even in his own home, could face a year in prison, a $1,000 fine, and confiscation of the gun.
There were 262 killings in the District last year, the most in five years.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) has introduced a bill to repeal the gun ban. Because the Constitution gives Congress full authority to govern the District, there is no doubt Hatch’s bill is constitutional and legitimate congressional business. What is not constitutional is the District gun law.
District resident and HUMAN EVENTS Assistant Editor David Freddoso went to Capitol Hill last week to ask senators whether they support the constitutional right of District residents to keep and bear arms.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal the District’s gun ban. Do you believe it’s the right of law-abiding D.C. citizens to own guns, and will you support the bill?
SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R.-IDAHO): I believe it’s the right of every law-abiding citizen to own guns. And of course, New York City and Washington, D.C., have the toughest gun control laws in the nation. A city councilman just got shot in New York City today, inside City Hall, by someone he knew. So much for the law.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal the D.C. gun ban. Do you believe it’s the right of law-abiding citizens in the District to own guns, and will you support the legislation?
SEN. JUDD GREGG (R.-N.H.): Well, I certainly believe people should be able to own guns. I think it’s up to the city council, though, and it really is a decision that I think should be left to the city council more than to the federal government.
If you felt that the city council was infringing on citizens’ rights, would you feel that Congress had some justification in intervening there?
GREGG: Well, I’d have to think about that. I know we play a unique role in Washington, because it is obviously a federal city. But on the other hand, we try to give people the sense of self-government that they should have, because they have a right to govern themselves. So it’s a difficult issue. Obviously if-I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with it.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal the D.C. gun ban. Do you believe that citizens of the District have the right to own guns?
SEN. FRITZ HOLLINGS (D.-S.C.): You’ve got me off-base. I’ve never heard of the bill. You see, I’m not on the Judiciary Committee. And gun control-interesting thing-we never had in 30 years but one FBI authorization. The reason we don’t put it up is the gun amendment, the abortion amendment, the prayer in the school amendment. And it goes right on down. So I just automatically, if I read it in the news, I don’t really give it-I know it’s not going anywhere. I mean, if we fought it out, it’d be between now and November.
Would you support such a bill to repeal the gun ban?
HOLLINGS: I’d have to look at it.
Do you believe that D.C. citizens have the right-
HOLLINGS: I don’t have a belief, I just don’t know about it.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal the D.C. gun ban. Will you support that bill, and do you believe that citizens of the District have the right to own guns?
SEN. JIM JEFFORDS (I.-VT.): Well, I’m going to do what I’m going to do, but it certainly doesn’t sound like something I’d be sympathetic to.
But do you agree that your constituents should have the right to own guns?
JEFFORDS: I believe in rights for D.C., I’ve been a strong advocate of D.C. being treated appropriately as an independent entity, free from the constraints of what stupid members of Congress-I mean members of Congress think.
Sen. Hatch is proposing repeal of the D.C. ban on handguns and its strict registration laws on long guns. Do you believe that D.C. citizens have a right to own guns, and would you support the legislation?
SEN. BLANCHE LINCOLN (D.-ARK.): I haven’t looked at it. Sorry.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal the D.C. gun ban. Do you believe in the right of law-abiding D.C. citizens to own guns?
SEN. ZELL MILLER (D.-GA.): Yes I do.
And will you support the bill?
MILLER: Yes I will.
Sen. Hatch has proposed a bill to repeal D.C.’s restrictive gun laws. Do you believe that law-abiding D.C. citizens have the right to own guns, and have them in their home, and carry them?
SEN. BEN NELSON (D.-NEB.): ‘Have the right,’ or ‘should have the right’?
Well, do you believe that they do, and that Congress should do something to protect that?
NELSON: Well, I don’t know that you can point to the gun laws in the District of Columbia and say that they have been successful in stopping crime. So it’s a question that needs to be discussed. We have the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, and take a look and see what kind of homicide rate related to firearms there is. I haven’t seen that number recently, but I do recall that it’s a high figure.
I think Secretary Rumsfeld said that it’s higher than the rate of Americans being killed in Iraq.
NELSON: Yeah.
So you would be sympathetic to the idea of repealing the ban?
NELSON: Well, I’d take a look at it. I’m always worried about-I know the federal government has responsibility over D.C., and I’m a little bit worried about imposing from this level over local government, I’m looking at this issue as well.
If you felt that the local government was infringing on people’s constitutional rights, you might-
NELSON: Yeah, you might do that. I’m just taking a look at the issue right now. I’m typically supportive of good gun laws that I consider to be a matter of personal-or of public safety and public security. I supported the concealed carry in Nebraska when I was governor, and so I’ve got a wide range of interests in making sure that you can have the right to bear arms, with some restrictions on it. I’m just going to take a look.
Sen. Hatch is proposing a repeal of D.C.’s ban, which states you can’t have a handgun in the District, you have to have your rifles registered and get a permit registered basically to have it in your own home. And of course no carrying guns anywhere. Do you believe, from a philosophical point of view, that D.C. citizens have the right to own guns, and would you support such legislation?
SEN. MARK PRYOR (D.-ARK.): I think they have the right to bear arms, just like everybody else. I’m just curious about why Sen. Hatch is supporting that. Do you know?
Well, there’s a lot of speculation. . . . But I’ve been asking people for a long time why nothing’s being-or, is something being done about this?
PRYOR: It’s a new issue to me, and I’d like to know why Sen. Hatch is doing that. But I think that the Constitution guarantees we have a right to bear arms-I’m not for taking anyone’s gun away or anything else. But I’d just have to look at it some more, that’s all.
Sen. Hatch is proposing repeal of the D.C. ban on handguns and its restrictive provisions about owning guns in the District. Do you believe that it’s the right of D.C. citizens to own guns, and would you support the legislation?
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D.-W.VA.): I’ve got some guns. I have to leave them with people out in Virginia because of that. I don’t know. I don’t know, I suppose I’ve thought about it. It was an issue [for me] 15 or 16 years ago when I moved to the District.
So you might be open to the idea?
ROCKEFELLER: I don’t want to talk about it-don’t want to pop off about it.
Philosophically, do you consider it a basic right of American citizens to own guns?
ROCKEFELLER: Yes.
