Gun Amendment Threats Examined by Federal and Local Officials in Hearing on Homeland Security in the National Capital Region Tomorrow

April 2, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Phillip D. Morse, and Kenneth Wall, acting director, Office of National Capital Region Homeland Security, will lead a hearing tomorrow morning, Fri., April 3, to examine homeland security and public safety dangers posed by the proposed gun amendment to the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, and will update a subcommittee chaired by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) on other homeland security issues. The hearing, entitled, "Disaster Capacity in the National Capital Region: Experiences, Capabilities, and Weaknesses," before the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, will be held, 10 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2167.  The hearing will feature testimony from Lanier and Morse, who previously testified concerning a similar gun bill aimed at the District.  They, and other witnesses, will also update the subcommittee on current risks and progress in shoring up homeland security in the National Capital Region, which was hit on 9/11.  The other witnesses scheduled to testify are: Major General Errol R. Schwartz, commanding general, District of Columbia National Guard; Vernon Herron, deputy chief administrative officer for public safety/director of homeland security, Office of the County Executive, Prince George's County; Jonathon Sarubbi, administrator, Region III, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Michael Taborn, chief, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; Linda C. Mathes, president and CEO, American Red Cross of the National Capital Area.  

The Congresswoman has been fighting back since the National Rifle Association attached a gun amendment to the Senate version of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act, passed in late February, and threatened to attach the same amendment to the House bill.  "There has been virtually no analysis of the serious risks one bill poses to all we have been able to achieve since 9/11 when the National Capital Region was hit," Norton said.  "To attach a bill that would leave the nation's capital with no gun laws in the event of another serious terrorist attempt, at a minimum, we owe the American people, especially the people of the National Capital Region, a hearing before we do so."

The following is a thumbnail sketch of the provisions in the gun amendment that raise the most serious homeland security concerns:

• 1.) Makes a unique exception for the District to become the only U.S. jurisdiction where people can cross state lines to purchase handguns and bring them back -- from Virginia and Maryland -- facilitating gun running by criminals, individuals or gangs intent on breaching homeland security in the National Capital Region, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, which together contains the bulk of the U.S. federal presence and all cabinet agencies.

• 2.) Creates a "gun show loophole," which D.C. is barred from closing, i.e., any person in the District of Columbia, on a cash and carry basis, could purchase weapons from private individuals, as well as at gun shows, in the nation's capital, in Virginia and Maryland. Gun shows could not be prohibited in the nation's capital, putting national security and local security and safety at risk.

• 3.) Unlike many states and most big cities, there would be no gun registration; therefore, it would be very difficult for police to trace guns that might be used in crimes or terrorist incidents.

• 4.) Merely possessing a firearm would be presumed to be legal if you were an employee carrying your firearm to your place of business where guns would be permitted.

• 5.) Permits .50 caliber sniper rifles that can pierce armor plating up to a mile away because the District of Columbia assault weapons ban is wiped out, creating danger for federal officials and D.C. residents alike.

• 6.) Virtually no regulation of guns, only the minimal federal statute, with the result that the nation's capital would be one of the most permissive gun jurisdictions in the nation, making it difficult to protect dignitaries and parades as needed in the post 9-11 era and undoing almost everything the federal government has done to shore up homeland security in the capital since 9-11.

• 7.) Permits a person who is voluntarily committed to a mental institution (most people are voluntarily committed today) to own a gun immediately upon release without any waiting period.

• 8.) No ability of the District to revise its laws for the safety of residents, or others, even to respond to unforeseeable events and even though federal police agencies have heavily relied on the District's strong gun laws to pick up armed people in the District who pose a federal risk.