Terry Everett, November 3, 2003

The times may be changing as more Americans and their elected representatives are finally looking at gun rights as necessary for their personal safety instead of as an outmoded frontier tradition. Furthermore, a recent national study indicates that gun control is a failure in preventing crime. With the public's and the politicians' positive shift in attitude about gun ownership, lawmakers are seeking to end the near 30-year ban on a constitutional right of the residents of our nation's capital, Washington, DC.

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is anything but an outdated principle. It was deliberately placed as the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution because our forefathers knew all too well that a public that could defend itself could not be enslaved by tyranny. The right to protect one's self and family and even one's freedom is fundamental. Yet residents of Washington, DC do not enjoy that constitutional guarantee.

Since 1976, DC residents have been prohibited from owning firearms. The reason for this gun control law was to prevent crime. For anyone living in the nation's capital, the ineffectiveness of this law is readily apparent. The city has achieved notoriety in recent decades for its high crime rate. In 2002, the District of Columbia experienced the highest per capita crime rate of any major American city. Failing to stem violent crime, the DC gun control law has all but assured that only the criminals in Washington have guns. And the law-abiding public is left to the mercy of the lawless.

To restore the right of these citizens to provide for their safety, legislation has been introduced this year in the House and Senate. The District of Columbia Personal Protection Act (HR 3193) has a respectable 120 cosponsors in the House, including myself. The companion Senate bill, S 1414, has 24 cosponsors. Both bills would repeal DC's current gun control laws.

Indeed, gun control has never been proven to work. In October, a study by the Centers for Disease Control found insufficient evidence that anti-gun laws prevent gun violence. It is further interesting to note that the major Democrat candidates for President have distanced themselves from any support of gun control, unlike their predecessors in previous campaigns for the White House who once embraced it.

Ending gun control in Washington is not the only effort under consideration by Congress to protect Second Amendment rights. I have cosponsored the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2003 (HR 3125). This legislation protects Americans' rights by opposing attempts by the United Nations to impose gun control measures as part of its global agenda.

Another bill I support is the Citizen's Self-Defense Act of 2003 (HR 648). This legislation is aimed at protecting the right to obtain firearms for personal security and the ability to use them in defense of one's self, family, or home.

Finally, I was pleased to see legislation pass the House in April that seeks to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers and sellers of firearms for damages resulting from the criminal use of a firearm. Such lawsuits are misdirected and an abuse of the legal system.

America's Second Amendment rights are more relevant and necessary than ever. They must be protected to ensure the future freedoms and personal safety of us all.

Congressman Terry Everett represents the 2nd Congressional District of Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives.