PrintJune 12, 2009
Double-Barrel DC Duplicity
Anti-Second Amendment politicians have a high-caliber hypocrisy second to none.
Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and his anti-gun supporters at The Washington Post are heralding the shooting skills of the Special Police Officers at the Holocaust Museum: "Fast Action By Guards Saved Lives, Officials Say":
And when the worst happened Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, authorities said the Special Police Officers on duty were ready.As they investigate the shooting, in which James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist from Annapolis, is charged with firing a rifle and killing one of the officers, authorities said yesterday that if it weren't for the quick response of the private guards on duty, more people could have been killed or wounded.At a news conference yesterday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said the officers' efforts "to bring this gunman down so quickly literally saved the lives of countless people. . . . This could have been much, much worse."It started out as a normal day. Dozens of visitors, including school groups, were passing through the museum as the beginning of the summer tourist season began in earnest. Then, police said, a red Hyundai driven by von Brunn double parked on 14th Street outside the museum's entrance. When he got to the museum's door, Stephen T. Johns, who had been posted at the museum for six years, opened the door, police say.Von Brunn then lifted his rifle and shot Johns in the chest at close range, officials said. Two officers immediately returned fire, hitting Brunn in the face, and he fell backward out the door, police said.All of the officers were employees of Wackenhut Services, a large private security firm that provides protection for several government buildings, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the museum, the guards look just like police officers, with crisp uniforms, .38-caliber revolvers on their hips and silver badges with an image of a lion on a scale on their chests.The Special Police Officer is different from a regular security guard, who "is a civilian who has no police authority," said D.C. Police Lt. Jon Shelton. SPOs, by contrast, are commissioned by the D.C. police chief and have "full police authority," including arrest power on the premises they are assigned to protect, he said.To carry a firearm, SPOs must compete a 40-hour training session and go through an eight-hour recertification program every year to stay active, Shelton said. About 5,000 SPOs are licensed to work in the District.
Dick Heller is a DC special police officer with the same firearms training as those at the Holocaust Museum. Heller is authorized to carry a handgun while on duty at the Federal Judicial Center. He applied for a registration certificate for a handgun that he wished to keep at home, but the District refused. No exception allowed, even for an officer that DC officials arm and entrust to protect the public. Heller took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last June, the Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller, that DC's draconian gun laws violate the Second Amendment."
"Like Fenty, council members voiced anger and disappointment over the Supreme Court opinion." Despite the Heller ruling, Fenty and company are trying to make it as difficult as possible for law-abiding citizens of DC, such as Heller and his fellow officers at the Holocaust Museum, to possess a handgun in their own homes.
"While the policies are being revised, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said, officers who find handguns in residents' homes will "use their discretion" about whether to arrest the owners," according to the Post, June 27, 2008.
The nation's capital will remain one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. as long as it's run by politicians committed to an ideology that is a proven failure:
An editorial in the Washington Times (3/27/96) quotes Lt. Lowell Duckett, president of the Black Police Caucus and a special assistant to Washington DC's Chief of Police, as telling a group of citizens they were right to arm themselves: "Gun control has not worked in DC. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It's quicker to pull your Smith and Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being robbed." [Gun Owners of America].
Fortunately, crack-shots were on duty at the Holocaust Museum-not crackpots.
Jan LaRue is an attorney, author, and frequent contributor to American Thinker.
