Norton Calls on Residents to "Just Say No to Guns" and the Gun Culture (7/17/08)

Norton Calls on Residents to "Just Say No to Guns" and the Gun Culture
July 17, 2008

Washington, DC - As registration of guns began today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) called on residents to refuse to buy into the gun culture by just saying no. The Supreme Court has spoken, the District has acted and now it is up to citizens to do their part, she said. "If the great majority of residents, who supported our gun ban, meant it, now is the time to show it. I challenge every resident not to buy a gun. Don't buy into the gun culture in our streets by bringing it into our homes with the gun you buy. It's up to us now."

Norton, who has stopped gun ban repeal four times by the Congress, said that residents, "at the very least, can maintain the status quo if they simply refuse to bring a gun into their own homes." She said that the data for decades has reported few instances where a gun in the home was used to deter a break-in or hold off a criminal. The evidence is that three main results of guns in the home are accidents often involving children, domestic violence and suicides, she reported. Norton also said that guns in the home are likely to make their way to the streets, adding to the city's gun culture there. "If residents meant the strong loyalty they have shown over the years to D.C.'s gun ban, if we meant what we said, now is the time to show it and to resist the temptation to add to gun violence in D.C. by importing a new gun culture into our homes.