WEAPONS OF CHOICE

Searching private homes for guns proposed in DC

'Amnesty' offered for illegal weapons, unless investigators link them to crime

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Posted: March 13, 2008
10:22 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily


District of Columbia Police Chief Cathy Lanier

The District of Columbia police department is preparing to launch a massive new home-by-home search program to confiscate and destroy handguns, despite arguments pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges the constitutionality of its ban on residents having such weapons.

"Right now we're working under the laws that we have, and we'll continue working under the laws that we have," Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in announcing the program that targets all handguns in the district.

The voluntary program would work like this, according to Traci Hughes, an official with the Metropolitan Police Department: Residents of homes or apartments would contact police and ask them to come and search for such weaponry, they would sign a release, and officers would conduct the search.

She said those who voluntarily contact police would be granted amnesty for any illegal weapons uncovered during the search, although they would not be granted amnesty if those weapons would be traced to any previous crime.

Lanier announced the program, calling it a new anti-violence campaign, during a visit to the DC's 7th District Police headquarters.

Officials estimate authorities already are confiscating and destroying 2,000 handguns annually, but that's not enough.


"For those people who have handguns in their home that become stolen or get out in the street in some other way, a child carries it out and puts it in his backpack and takes it to school, or whatever, worries me," Lanier said in a video posted on WUSA-Television.

The announcement comes just days before the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear arguments that challenge the district's handgun ban as a violation of the Second Amendment.

Lawyers for Dick Anthony Heller, a security guard, sued to overturn Washington's law that prohibits citizens from owning or having handguns. It also imposes severe restrictions on other firearms such as shotguns.

Several other city residents joined in the action, claiming the Second Amendment's individual right to own a gun. A district court judge rejected their claims, but in 2007 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled the amendment also protects the right of individuals to privately own guns.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments March 18 in the dispute, in which dozens of outside groups have filed arguments in support of the appellate decision.

The district's perspective is that the Second Amendment only allows people to have guns in connection with service in a militia – not to own guns as an individual. That is the perspective under which Lanier, a graduate in management from Johns Hopkins University, is operating.

Hughes told WND the program is scheduled to launch on March 24, during spring break for District of Columbia public school students, and the goal is to get "more weapons off the streets" by taking them out of closets and off shelves in residents' homes.

"We're hoping that if the custodian of the premises voluntarily allows the police department to search for weapons, we can immediately remove those weapons. We hope it would prevent [it] from being used in other crimes or against other members of the household," she said.

She said attorneys have developed a release form that grants permission for the officers to search, confiscate and destroy weapons and for the resident to be given amnesty for violating the ban on handgun possession.

However, "if it's tied to a crime, then we do have to investigate," she said.

She said there aren't specific plans if the law is overturned. "We've not crossed that bridge," she said.

"I cannot think of a more inappropriate thing to do," Larry Pratt, chief of Gun Owners of America, told WND. "It may very soon be legal [to own handguns in DC]."

"And do they really think that criminals will be inviting them in?" he asked.

In a commentary on WND, Sandy Froman, the immediate past president of the National Rifle Association of American, and Kenneth Blackwell, the former mayor of Cincinnati and a visiting fellow at the American Civil Rights Union, discussed the issue.

From Froman's perspective came this comment: "My political awakening came in the form of terror when a thug tried to break into my house in the middle of the night. Unable to defend myself, it suddenly became very clear that the person responsible for protecting my life and safety was I. I refused to be a helpless victim. It was time to buy a gun and learn how to use it. Later when I joined the NRA and began receiving their flagship publication, The American Rifleman, I knew that Chuck Connors was right. Guns in the hands of good people save lives."

And from Blackwell: "Things were tougher in the South where the Deacons of Defense, most of whom were veterans like my father, chased away KKK riders and thugs. These groups of armed men patrolled their neighborhoods to keep them safe at night. Whether individuals or families, against random criminals or organized threats, our lives are evidence that women and minorities – especially in today's urban areas – need our Second Amendment rights."

They noted the Supreme Court for the first time is settling the question whether individual citizens have a constitutional right to possess private firearms.

The amendment says; "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."

The current case will decide whether that right refers to private, law-abiding citizens as individuals, or whether the right is a "collective" right that refers to the National Guard or some other militia.

Among the 92 different law enforcement voices speaking in support of the individual's right to own guns is the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, which said in its brief:

"Numerous surveys show that firearms are used (usually without a shot needing to be fired) for self-defense at least 97,000 times a year, and probably several hundred thousands times a year. The anti-crime effects of citizen handgun ownership provide enormous benefits to law enforcement, because there are fewer home invasion emergencies requiring an immediate police response, and because the substantial reductions in rates of burglary, assault, and other crimes allow the police and district attorneys to concentrate more resources on other cases and on deterrence."

"Guns save lives," the brief said. "In the hands of law-abiding citizens, guns provide very substantial public safety benefits. In all 50 states – but not the District – it is lawful to use firearms for defense against home invaders. The legal ownership of firearms for home defense is an important reason why the American rate of home invasion burglaries is far lower than in countries which prohibit or discourage home handgun defense."

Montana officials already have argued the U.S. already resolved any dispute about the meaning of the Second Amendment when it defined in Montana's compact under which it became a state that "any person" has the right to bear arms.

And U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., has led a congressional delegation in asking President Bush to order the U.S. Justice Department to submit a brief to the high court supporting the rights of individuals under the Second Amendment.

A similar request already has been submitted by officials for the Gun Owners of America.

The government's position is available in a document submitted by by U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement. He said since "unrestricted" private ownership of guns clearly threatens the public safety, the Second Amendment can be interpreted to allow a variety of gun restrictions.

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