The end of September was a grim milestone for Washington D.C., as the city reached 120 homicides, the most our nation’s capital has experienced since 2010, according to WUSA9. In August, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier blamed the spike in crime to an influx of illegal firearms with so-called high-capacity magazines. The problem is that Fox5DC’s Emily Miller noted that magazine capacity isn’t listed on the police form law enforcement fill out upon recovering firearms at a crime scene. In other words, DC police have no way to knowing that this is the problem, let alone tracking these weapons.
Nevertheless, the spike in crime seems to be impacting public perception since 51 percent of D.C. residents want to bring back the unconstitutional ban on firearms (via WaPo):
Fifty-one percent of D.C. residents said they would like to reinstate a ban on gun ownership in the city that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2008, according to a new Washington Post poll.Almost as many, 47 percent, oppose the idea. Three percent have no opinion.
The finding comes as the District grapples with a 58 percent spike in homicides this year — almost all from gun violence — and that has sent crime to the top of residents’ concerns about the city, the poll showed.
The U.S. Court Of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering the legality of the new carry law D.C. was forced to implement upon having the city’s handgun and carry ban struck down as unconstitutional. Granted, the city council passed an onerous may issue carry law, which is the subject of the current lawfare.
