Scapegoat Alert! D.C.
Murders Increase, Police Chief Blames . . .
Friday, August 21, 2015
Murders in the District of Columbia are not nearly as common
as they were a generation ago, when the city’s crack cocaine gangs and former
handgun ban held sway. However, murders in D.C. are up by a third thus far in
2015, as compared to the first eight months of last year. And while the local police union faults the city’s police chief, Cathy Lanier, for
dismantling units that had kept drug gangs at bay, Lanier is pointing an
accusatory finger at guns.
Lanier speculates that changes in gun laws around the country and the popularity of “high-capacity” magazines are responsible for D.C.’s worsening murder situation. The theory is odd, however. As the Washington Post reports, many of D.C.’s murders result from stabbings, not gunfire. And, in 2013, the way that neighboring Maryland changed its gun laws was by banning magazines holding more than 10 rounds, banning “assault weapons,” and requiring permits to purchase handguns. At the same time, similar gun and magazine bans were also imposed in Connecticut and New York.
Instead of blaming guns, Lanier might do well to consider a few other factors. In June, the Washington Post reportedthat about 500 officers had left the city’s police department in the previous 18 months. Last week, the newspaper reported that 55 of the city’s then-91 murders were still open cases and, according to Chief Lanier herself, more than 10 percent of D.C.’s murders involve violent felons recently let out of prison. This week, Lanier even said that some of D.C.’s murder suspects have as many as a dozen prior arrests for violent crimes.
Lanier should know there’s not a single new gun law in any state that has made it easier for members of narcotics gangs or anyone else in D.C. to obtain guns. Federal law prohibits anyone other than D.C.’s one firearm dealer from transferring a handgun to a resident of the District and prohibits anyone from selling a handgun to anyone under age 18.
Despite its history of restrictive gun laws, the District of Columbia’s murder rate has been three to 10 times higher than the national rate for the last 50 years. The expression, “people kill people” is perhaps nowhere so apt, as it is in the District. To be sure, the District has a problem. But it’s not the ability, elsewhere in the United States, of law-abiding people to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
Lanier speculates that changes in gun laws around the country and the popularity of “high-capacity” magazines are responsible for D.C.’s worsening murder situation. The theory is odd, however. As the Washington Post reports, many of D.C.’s murders result from stabbings, not gunfire. And, in 2013, the way that neighboring Maryland changed its gun laws was by banning magazines holding more than 10 rounds, banning “assault weapons,” and requiring permits to purchase handguns. At the same time, similar gun and magazine bans were also imposed in Connecticut and New York.
Instead of blaming guns, Lanier might do well to consider a few other factors. In June, the Washington Post reportedthat about 500 officers had left the city’s police department in the previous 18 months. Last week, the newspaper reported that 55 of the city’s then-91 murders were still open cases and, according to Chief Lanier herself, more than 10 percent of D.C.’s murders involve violent felons recently let out of prison. This week, Lanier even said that some of D.C.’s murder suspects have as many as a dozen prior arrests for violent crimes.
Lanier should know there’s not a single new gun law in any state that has made it easier for members of narcotics gangs or anyone else in D.C. to obtain guns. Federal law prohibits anyone other than D.C.’s one firearm dealer from transferring a handgun to a resident of the District and prohibits anyone from selling a handgun to anyone under age 18.
Despite its history of restrictive gun laws, the District of Columbia’s murder rate has been three to 10 times higher than the national rate for the last 50 years. The expression, “people kill people” is perhaps nowhere so apt, as it is in the District. To be sure, the District has a problem. But it’s not the ability, elsewhere in the United States, of law-abiding people to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
District of Columbia
Charles H. Ramsey
was the police chief for the District of
Columbia, and is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
Note: Martin O'Malley
was a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, the Baltimore (MD)
mayor, the Maryland state government
governor, and is a presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election.
Kenneth
Canterbury is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and the president for the Fraternal Order of Police.
Annise
Parker is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, the Houston
(TX) mayor, and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, was a contributor for the Americans for Responsible Solutions,
and was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun
Safety” group for guns.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety” PAC for guns.
George
Soros was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
John
J. Mack was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, and is an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Warren E. Buffett
is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and an adviser for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),
and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
John R.
Allen is a fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Lee H. Hamilton
is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member
of the Homeland Security Advisory
Council.
Charles H. Ramsey
is a member of the Homeland Security
Advisory Council, and was the police chief for the District of Columbia.
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