Legal Carry in DC Until Further Notice

The Washington Post reports that Washington, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier ordered her offices to not arrest any citizen carrying a gun in public.

In an order approved by Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, police were told that District residents are permitted to carry pistols if the weapons are registered. Those who had not registered their handguns could be charged on that ground, the instruction said…

Lanier’s instructions to police also said that residents of other jurisdictions without felony records would not be charged under the ban on carrying pistols.

The D.C. attorney general plans to seek a stay of this court order, pending appeal. They’ll have to hurry before crime data show a drop in violent crimes, as thugs become afraid of attacking people who refuse to be a victim.

One council member Mary M. Cheh, claims that the carry ban is important to protect.

“We’re just full of places where guns would be not only inappropriate but highly dangerous,” Cheh said.

Being WaPo, the reporters didn’t follow up with sensible questions like:

• “Why would somebody planning to shoot up a government office—a federal felony at the very least—worry about avoiding a maximum sentence of 5 years for carrying a concealed weapon?” [D.C. Code § 22-4504  (2014)]
• Why hasn’t there been a rash of shootings in government offices of states with liberalized concealed carry laws?

As researcher John Lott noted recently:

Between 2007 and the preliminary estimates for 2013, murder rates have fallen from 5.6 to 4.4 per 100,000 – a 22 percent drop in the murder rate at the same time that the percentage of the adult population with permits soared by 130 percent. Overall violent crime also fell by 22 percent over that period of time.

Considering that more gun control correlates with increased black homicide rates, and D.C. is primarily black, city officials should welcome this newfound freedom for people to practice their civil right of self-defense.

So when D.C. officials say they need to ban concealed carry — for law-abiding citizens only — they’re being disingenuous at best.