Guns and the Constitution in the District

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After years of trying to overturn our gun laws, extreme gun rights activists have finally achieved a breakthrough. In ignoring Supreme Court precedent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit used arguments and citations that were strikingly familiar to anyone who has ever sat through a National Rifle Association-sponsored seminar on the Second Amendment.

Because of illegal trafficking -- 97 percent of the guns linked to crimes in the District come from outside the city -- it is already easy for District children to get their hands on guns. Why in the world would we want to make it easier? The truth is, the gun lobby wants us to ignore such trafficking so it can blame the violence on our city's gun laws. This conveniently takes the focus off the NRA's repeated efforts on Capitol Hill to weaken the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and to protect corrupt gun dealers.

Mayor Adrian Fenty has not been fooled. He stands with more than 150 of his colleagues in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition, which emphatically rejects the NRA's insane notion that more guns are the answer to the problem of violent crime in cities.

This is a decisive moment for District residents. For years, the gun lobby has exploited our lack of voting representation in Congress and trampled on the principle of home rule. We must make them understand -- beyond any doubt -- that we love our children more than they will ever love their guns.

LADD EVERITT

Communications Director

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence