Mon Sep 27, 2004
By DERRILL HOLLY
The 13-member council asked the House leadership to table legislation that would override local gun laws that have been on the books since 1976.
"It appears unconscionable for the House to consider legislation that would make guns more available in the district," said D.C. Council Chair Linda W. Cropp, D-At Large.
The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act, now pending in the House, would allow people to keep firearms in their homes and businesses. Semiautomatic rifles and other weapons not prohibited by federal law could be owned legally in the city, and the current ban on private handgun ownership, and the sale and possession of handgun ammunition would be eliminated.
While homicides in the city are down 23 percent from last year, 21 juveniles have been killed this year, compared to 12 in all of 2003.
"What would be even worse is if there were 42 or if there were 22 deaths because our gun laws changed," Cropp said.
A House vote expected Wednesday would be symbolic because a companion Senate measure has been withdrawn.
These are actual quotes taken from Mayor
Marion Barry, of Washington, D.C.
"The contagious people of
Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of
increment weather." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"I promise you a police car on
every sidewalk." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"If you take out the killings,
Washington actually has a very very low crime rate." -- M. Barry,
Mayor of Washington, DC
"First, it was not a strip bar,
it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl."
-- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"Bitch set me up." -- M.
Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"I am clearly more popular than
Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by
George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less." -- M. Barry, Mayor of
Washington, DC
"The laws in this city are
clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist."
-- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"I am making this trip to Africa
because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or
Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to
Africa?" -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"People have criticized me
because my security detail is larger than the president's. But you must
ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to
kill the president? I can assure you there are." -- M. Barry, Mayor
of Washington, DC
"The brave men who died in
Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate
sacrifice." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"I read a funny story about how
the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created
slavery by law in the 1600's. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was
not a Republican." (um, yeah, he was)--
M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"What right does Congress have to
go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?" -- M.
Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
"People blame me because these
water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn't break, would
it be my responsibility to fix them then? WOULD IT!?!" -- M. Barry,
Mayor of Washington, DC
"I am a great mayor; I am an
upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated
man; I am a humble man." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC