Star Member NightWatcher (32,261 posts)
Why weren't the Congressmen carrying concealed weapons!?
They take thousands of dollars from the NRA to tell us how we are supposed to carry to protect ourselves from the "bad guy with a gun" by being a good guy with a gun.
Just like the vast majority of citizens in the vast majority of shootings, the only protection and the "only thing that prevented a massacre" (Rand Paul & others there) was the presence of police (because Rep Scalise is in Leadership).
Don't cash an NRA check and tell movie goers, mall shoppers, and elementary school teachers to carry a gun to protect themselves when you don't.
Today several Congress members became Average Americans, victims to gun violence that they cannot protect themselves from, saved only by the police, as are we.
Pass sensible gun safety legislation now!
well, for one thing they were at a softball practice in the field...
secondly, DC is a "may issue" jurisdiction" as of October 2016. The status of concealed carry licensing in the District of Columbia is currently in flux between "may issue" and "shall issue "due to pending court challenges. On July 26, 2014, DC's ban on open and concealed carry was struck down as unconstitutional in Wren v. District of Columbia. Initially Judge Frederick Scullin, Jr. did not issue a stay of his ruling. For a brief period of time, Judge Scullin's ruling effectively legalized permitless open and concealed carry with a valid firearm registration card, and non-residents with valid carry permits issued by their home states could carry openly or concealed in the District. But on July 29, 2014 Scullin issued an order that retroactively stayed the ruling until October 22, 2014. In response to the ruling, a Restrictive May-Issue concealed carry licensing law was enacted in September 2014.
Under the new law, an applicant must show "good reason," to qualify for a concealed carry permit. However, on May 18, 2015, the "good reason" requirement was ruled as likely unconstitutional and a preliminary injunction was issued against DC from enforcing that requirement. This effectively required the District to grant licenses on a Shall-Issue basis to qualified applicants who have passed a criminal background check and completed the required firearms safety training. Judge Scullin did not issue a stay of his ruling, but the Appeals Court did so on Jun 12, 2015, effectively leaving the restrictive 'good reason' requirement in place while litigation continues.
On May 17, 2016 a separate case (Grace v. District of Columbia) was decided by District Court Judge Richard J. Leon. The Court issued a preliminary injunction that the good reason requirement was likely be unconstitutional and enjoined its enforcement. The order said that anyone who met the eligibility requirements for a concealed carry license absent the good reason stipulation cannot be denied the license; the order was not stayed originally, but was subsequently stayed on May 27, 2016.
It's possible that some of the political types may have applied for a CCP and have not yet recieved them. DC is notoriously slow at granting those permits.
Star Member WillowTree (4,337 posts)
1. Who would pack a gun while playing baseball?
DetlefK (10,229 posts)
3. That's a question for the NRA, not us.
Star Member jimlup (5,598 posts)
2. Actually the have armed police with them
so in a sense they were. I think we should wait and develop talking points later after we have all of the facts. Yes, I believe the armed citizens idea is a load of crap but let's wait and see how this develops.
hack89 (36,218 posts)
4. Very hard to get a concealed carry permit in DC. I suspect there will be pressure to change that.
Star Member NightWatcher (32,261 posts)
8. I carry for work, but wouldn't while playing a game either
We can't concealed carry our way out of danger from gun violence. We can begin to legislate so it's more difficult for the type of person who would shoot up a baseball field might have a harder time getting guns and ammo.
^ security guard... The gun used is probably illegal to own in VA or DC, btw. High cap mags are illegal in DC and in Arlington, VA the law is:
§ 18.2-287.4. Carrying loaded firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded (a) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (b) shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, or Virginia Beach or in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, or Prince William.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, or any person having a valid concealed handgun permit or to any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The exemptions set forth in § 18.2-308 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the provisions of this section.Lee-Lee (3,677 posts)
10. The likely answer but the one you won't like to hear
Is that it's virtually impossible to get a concealed carry permit in DC. Sure, it's possible in theory. Much like in theory it was possible for a black woman to vote in Alabama in 1955- it was in theory possible based on the law but in practice not so much because of obstacles intentionally placed in the way.
Now, before some of you hysterical self defense haters start fuming "but this was in Virginia"- it was. But most of them were probably headed to D.C. later that morning for work or had left from a home in DC. So if your day takes you into a place where you can't carry (and can't even have it in your car locked up the way the law there reads) that means as a practical matter you can't carry all day even if you had a permit and were inclined to do so.
papa3times (66 posts)
15. Gun violence in America will only be taken on by technology advancements(smart guns etc.). Even then the NRA will oppose any form of gun control.
