Skip to main content

May 19, 2005: NORTON IN GEAR WITH CITIZENS COALITION & PUBLIC OFFICIALS TO STOP SECOND ATTACK ON D.C

January 10, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2005

NORTON IN GEAR WITH CITIZENS COALITION AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS TO STOP SECOND ATTACK ON D.C. GUN SAFETY LAWS IN TWO YEARS

Washington, DC--Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today issued the following statement on the introduction of a bill to repeal D.C.’s gun safety laws.

“We will not allow the two Texas Senators, the NRA and shamelessly a Senator from our own region, to revive last year’s brazen attacks on the District’s gun safety laws that protect our children, their families and our democratic right to govern ourselves in our own country. Just last year with the help of Mayor Anthony Williams, every elected official in the District, a citizens’ coalition, MPD Chief Charles Ramsey, and School Superintendent Clifford Janey, we beat back this same attack on our right to protect our citizens. After 13 children were killed by guns last year, Citizens to Save D.C. Gun Safety Laws, a coalition including every sector of the population from the Board of Trade to mothers of children killed by gunfire, came to the Senate and the House with the message that an attack on D.C.’s gun laws is an attack on our children. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), John Cornyn (R-TX) and George Allen (R-VA) will not pay the price in heartbreak and carnage in our neighborhoods, and they have no right to interfere with the judgment of those who will.

“I am particularly surprised that Sen. Hutchison would lead a heartless effort that will harm our kids and overturn local government here. She respected home rule when she chaired the Senate D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee and I asked her to remain true to this principle yesterday when she called, and she said she would work with me. Allen is the last Senator who should be on this bill since Virginia is a major source of guns used in murders on the streets of the District of Columbia. With local officials and residents, I hope to make them and other Members of Congress aware of the information and specific reasons for our strong convictions concerning our gun safety laws. Gun laws differ vastly across the country, and D.C. is not Texas or Virginia. We deserve the right to enact and maintain gun laws tailored for D.C. by those who know this city. Nationally, teenagers are more likely to be killed by guns than to die from all diseases combined. Tragically, child death by gunfire is an even greater documented danger here.

“Citizens have called my office to say they are ready to mobilize again to save our city’s gun safety laws. It won’t be easy. The NRA has already gotten 123 cosponsors in the House using a combination of threats and campaign contributions. Nevertheless, we were able to beat repeal last year. We are prepared to repeat that success this year.”