Since the ban was lifted in D.C., just over 800 guns have been registered in city. The relatively low total comes as the district passed the slew of new requirements that also include being fingerprinted and taking ballistic tests, which could help police track bullets back to specific guns if needed.
And this:
Washington, D.C.'s police chief, Cathy Lanier, said the city has "yet to have a case where someone was about to be the victim of a crime where someone pulled a handgun and saved themselves." However, that isn't the case in Chicago, and many say that could provide the motivation for more people to purchase guns if a ban is lifted.
More:
Lanier, D.C.'s police chief, said she believes getting rid of the ban has not had an effect on crime. The number of accidental shootings in homes, domestic violence shootings and suicides did not go up as a result, she said. Nor, she said, has the homicide rate gone down as a result of lifting the ban, a frequent claim by gun rights advocates.
"I just hope that there's not a thought that allowing people to legally register guns is going to have a big impact on crime," she said. "It certainly hasn't here."
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1239,q,561242,mpdcNav_GID,1523,mpdcNav,|.asp
ReplyDelete-15% drop?
Second consecutive annual drop of more than 10%?
Had only one drop this large in the past twenty years?
Yah, no change.
The problem with DC's gun laws is that they were only unpopular with people who were not residents of that jurisdiction. The laws were enacted through the home rule process in the 1970 and were popular with the citzenry of DC.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the most part, DC citizens are not interested in owning guns: hence the low number of registrations.
We can also argue that there is a saturated market for firearms. This would be particularly true of large NE metropolitan areas in the US.
The Alexandria, VA gun biz has dried up with King Street Armoury going out of business in the 90s and Potomac Arms going out of business in 03.
Tough gun regulation, or just a lack of interest in firearms?
Laci