BELLEVUE, WA – The armed robbery Monday of Washington, D.C. Councilman, and former Mayor, Marion Barry should not have happened to him, nor should any citizen in the District face such a crime, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.
“Unfortunately,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “Barry and his anti-gun colleagues on the city council have steadfastly opposed repeal of the gun ban in the District. It is mind boggling that in the capitol of the Free World, where the original Constitution of the United States resides, that the citizens of that city may not exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
“This may not mean much to Mr. Barry,” Gottlieb observed, “because his crack cocaine conviction in 1991 disqualifies him from legally owning a firearm. But it would mean a great deal to law-abiding citizens without criminal records who desperately need the means to defend themselves against criminals who currently enjoy a risk-free working environment.”
According to the Associated Press, Barry was robbed at gunpoint by some youths who had helped him carry his groceries to his apartment. They took his wallet containing cash and credit cards.
“What happened to Marion Barry is a symptom of a larger problem,” Gottlieb said. “Over the years, since passage of the notorious handgun ban, there have been anecdotal incidents of VIPs being mugged and hard evidence that disarming law-abiding citizens has done nothing to stop armed criminals from committing violent crimes. Barry, of course, could easily discuss this phenomenon, since he is walking proof that laws against smoking crack cocaine don’t stop people from doing that, either.
“It’s time,” Gottlieb continued, “to tell anti-gun city leaders like Barry that ‘we’ve tried it your way, and it was a disaster; now let’s try it a different way.’ It is time for citizens in Washington, D.C. to once again be secure in their homes and businesses, and the only way to accomplish that is to make it possible for them to fight back.
“If the gun ban had worked,” he said, “Marion Barry would still have his wallet.”