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Lots of Questions, Little Agreement at D.C. Hearing on Gun Laws
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Shelton testified alongside Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham, who stepped in for Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, who was attending the wake of a Prince George's County officer. Newsham said the D.C. police department is drafting emergency regulations to address specifics about the registration of handguns, including an amnesty program for current owners of illegal handguns.
Mendelson had been upset about the absence of anyone from the city attorney general's office at the meeting. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles sent Mendelson a letter requesting that the council delay action until the administration can draft regulations and legislation to be considered at the July 15 session.
The most fiery speeches came from two District residents on opposite sides: community activist Absalom Jordan, a member of the National Rifle Association, and Ronald L. Moten, an ex-offender and co-founder of the anti-violence group Peaceoholics.
Moten recalled getting guns from Virginia and Maryland as a youth and urged the council to institute a 20-year sentence for dealers who sell firearms to minors. He also said semiautomatic weapons should remain banned.
Jordan said, "I've waited 32 years for my constitutional rights to be validated."
He said he worked as a council aide in the 1970s and wrote gun registration legislation that was never put on the table. "He threw it out the window," Jordan said, referring to then-council Chairman David A. Clarke, who shepherded the city's law.
Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, also included Clarke in his testimony, saying he was probably "looking down on us with a very sad face today."
