[Vir Quisque Vir]

Mayor Fenty,
You are getting very bad advice on gun control in the District. These anti-gun activists are missing the point entirely. Law-abiding citizens are denied the basic guarantee of self-defense in their own homes and cars. As you take the D.C. v. Heller case to the Supreme Court, please remember that self-defense should never be off the table for citizens of our republic, not in floods, storms, tornadoes, civil unrest, ANYTHING, ever. What has happened defacto is that guns have effectively been removed from most of the citizens, but the bad guys have remained armed to the nines. I respectfully disagree with the law there that would deny basic civil rights. I am not a member of the NRA and speak for myself only. For the most part, when gun-free zones are created, they basically put up a sign for criminals to say, go here, the people are not armed. I do not think this was the intended result of the legislation some 30 years ago in the district.
I believe the intentions were honorable to try to reduce crime in the district and that it was out of hand. I think that the Court, should it grant cert, will rule narrowly and say whether or not the appeals court ruling was correct or not. Second, I would expect them to determine if the guarantee of self-defense is an individual or collective right under the 2nd amendment and would be surprised if they address the question of the relationship to the 14th amendment and other legal questions. Last, I would expect them not to close the door on some regulation of firearms and would expect them to leave that up to the states. However, many states would ask for preemption to prevent unreasonable laws and ordinances from being adopted that deny citizens their 2nd amendment rights. Technically, these rights existed prior to the U.S. Constitution and the constitutions of all 50 states. You cannot abridge a right you had before the Constitution was written. I am sorry that these rights were denied in D.C., NY and other cities and after Katrina in New Orleans. My sense is that if you personally had been in New Orleans after the floods, with all the murderers, robbers, rapists and looters, many of whom were armed, you might feel differently. Thank you for hearing me out and I ask that you project yourself into the situations that some citizens face every day, in which the bad guys would do them harm.

Reply 9-2-07:

From:
"imailagent" <customerservice> Save Address Block Sender
To: <sprinklebum>
Subject: Email from the EOM (Intranet Quorum IMA00485364)
Date: Sunday, September 02, 2007 10:43:45 AM [View Source]

Dr. Sprinkle,

Thank you for your communication. I believe that the District of Columbia's gun
control laws are critical to protecting the public's safety and have saved
countless lives. I also believe that the District's laws are fully consistent
with the United States Constitution, and the District will soon be asking the
United States Supreme Court to recognize as much. As always, I appreciate your
comments and am pleased to serve the interests of the District's citizens.

Sincerely,

Adrian Fenty

Mayor

Note added: This experience of writing is just like micturating into the wind, which is the politically correct term for pissing into the wind. The proper saying for this experience might be that a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. I know we are supposed to discuss, persuade and educate, but I have concluded that some people are not educable, their mind is closed and they do not want to be confused by facts or rational thinking. So give me an A for effort and an F for result.

 

[Thorsen]

Yeh, it appears you got a boilerplate response there. I doubt the mayor ever saw your email.

 

[Vir Quisque Vir]

Yeh, it appears you got a boilerplate response there. I doubt the mayor ever saw your email.

D.C.'s writ for cert is due September 5th by the end of business. You are probably right. I still give a response, like to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, to have the editors or someone read it, even if they do not publish the letter. Same here. My sense is that likely a bean counter put it into the hate mail stack and tabulated one more on the total and sent the boiler plate response. Looks like the best way to beat these idiots is to sue and threaten to sue until they follow the law of the land and of the State of Georgia. My main reservation on the Supreme Court cert is that they will leave open some regulation of firearms and THAT is what people are going to have to be very careful about. Pushing for preemption is important and then NOT letting the anti-gun people pass more restrictive, silly legislation. Sounds like round 2 of the same battle.

 

[Opus X]

I believe that the District of Columbia's gun
control laws are critical to protecting the public's safety and have saved
countless lives.

The only way you say that and believe it is if you value the life of the BG over the citizen, because those are the only lives saved.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Dr. Sprinkle,

Thank you for your communication. I believe that the District of Columbia's gun
control laws are critical to protecting the public's safety and have saved
countless lives. I also believe that the District's laws are fully consistent
with the United States Constitution, and the District will soon be asking the
United States Supreme Court to recognize as much. As always, I appreciate your
comments and am pleased to serve the interests of the District's citizens.

Sincerely,

Adrian Fenty

Mayor

Guys, do not complain. The DC Court of Appeals opinion would have no affect outside of DC if Mayor Fenty decided against appealing, which would happen if he were not confident of victory.

Keep in mind that the rule in the 11th Circuit (here) is not what you would like. It will take a S. Ct. opinion to change that.

 

[Gunstar1]

Guys, do not complain. The DC Court of Appeals opinion would have no affect outside of DC if Mayor Fenty decided against appealing, which would happen if he were not confident of victory.

Keep in mind that the rule in the 11th Circuit (here) is not what you would like. It will take a S. Ct. opinion to change that.

Right, we should encourage DC's appeal. This is the best case I think we could ever get to challenge the 2nd, and if a Dem gets the presidency, it is the best time as well.

 

[Vir Quisque Vir]

I agree with Gunstar1. This is the best case that could be taken to date on the 2nd amendment. Previous cases were non-representative of the main issues. Heller has good standing and is a good example. Remember the NRA did not help, in fact, thwarted the initial D.C. v. Parker case and tried to join two cases and then get the law changed, making the Supreme Court case moot. The narrowness of the district as the entity is a problem. If the Supreme Court does not grant cert, then the appeals court ruling stands, but would not address directly the 2nd question, nor would it address the individual v. collective rights. However, an individual right ruling would force consideration of individual states and individual rights. Again, my only concern is leaving the door open for cities within states to regulate firearms. Preemption is one of our best guarantees that will not happen, at funny business would happen in legislatures. By my e-mail, there was virtually NO chance that Fenty would change his mind before the Sept 5th filing date. I just cannot believe how many Fentys there are, like Feinstein, Schumer, Kennedy, Clinton, a lot of politicians and non-politicians. I hope that Fenty wishes he had never taken the case to court. D.C. citizens deserve better in their Mayor and the 2nd amendment.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

The narrowness of the district as the entity is a problem.

Actually, the plaintiffs' counsel saw this as an advantage, since there would be no need to argue whether the Second Amendment was incorporated against the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. This made the issues in the case narrower.