It is not surprising that, even after a federal judge ruled against the District of Columbia’s carry ban, DC has gone to great lengths to deny the right to keep and bear arms from as many law abiding citizens as possible. The city council and mayor have modeled their draconian carry requirements after places like New York City where policy seems to be made that makes it all but impossible for “regular people” to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.
Don’t get me wrong, if you are buddies with the issuing authority, are rich, have friends in City Hall or in the Mayor’s mansion then you have no difficulty whatsoever of getting the government’s ok to defend your life if necessary. But if you do not have the money, connections or fame then you’ll probably find yourself denied your rights by a petty and petulant issuing authority.
The petty and petulant archetype can be embodied no greater than in DC’s Police Chief, Cathy Lanier.
Lanier has no problems ensuring that her cronies and her political bosses’ cronies have the right to defend themselves in one of the most crime ridden cities in America. But she will do whatever she can to ensure that you are denied the same civil right.
You see, the District has adopted a “May Issue” policy when granting concealed carry permits which translates into the fact that even if you are a perfectly honest and innocent law abiding citizen, the issuing authority (Chief Lanier) can still deny you your rights just based on her whims or political ideology. That ideology, in this case, being a raging anti gun hoplophobe.
Of course, for political cover and as a legal smokescreen to try and protect the District from losing another court case over this issue, Lanier isn’t announcing that she is denying permits based on a whim. No, she is hiding behind the “just cause” aspect of DC’s carry law. That just cause means that the citizen of DC must prove that they have a sufficient reason to need to carry a firearm.
Apparently, being an American with a God given right to do so isn’t sufficient cause for Lanier.
Then again, being a victim of a crime or living where street crime is the highest in the nation are also insufficient reasons to be able to defend yourself, according to Lanier.
