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| Neighborhood Safety Zone Initiative, Crime Deterrent or Police State? (United States) |
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D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.
Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area.
"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060402205.html
Our nation's capital is hardly a shining example of personal liberty. In June, 1976, the District of Columbia passed the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, making it illegal for residents to own handguns, automatic firearms, and semi-automatic firearms. It prohibits the possession of unregistered firearms. Further, legally owned firearms kept in the home must be unloaded, disassembled, or bound by a trigger lock. As liberals predicted, gun crime in DC vanished over night... among the law-abiding citizens who had been tearing through suburbs with M60s, I guess. The reality of the situation is that when you take away guns from the good guys and the bad guys still have them... gun control freaks have to blame other municipalities for undermining their efforts.
Thankfully, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in the case District of Columbia v. Heller, struck down the ban, after reversing the District Court's dismissal of the suit. Currently, the case is under review by the Supreme Court as DC appealed the ruling by the Appeals Court. Arguments were heard before the Supreme Court in march 2008 and a ruling is expected in June.
As the above article illustrates, the District of Columbia is not going to wait for the Court's Ruling to ensure that personal freedom is abridged. This time, DC is going to close off neighborhoods and turn away any person that doesn't have a good reason to enter. Never mind that what one person considers a "good reason" is subjective and can wildly differ from another person. The fact is, blocking entrance to a neighborhood is one tiny baby step from blocking the exit, too. Modern history has examples of fenced neighborhoods in cities and those stories never had a happy ending. You might not recognize Ha-Shoah or Churben, but if you've never heard of The Holocaust, then you'd better pay better attention to history.
You might say to yourself that this could NEVER happen in America, but ask yourself if you or any reasonable person can imagine an American citizen unable to use a firearm for the defense of family and self in his own home. For twenty five years, citizens in the District have been denied one of the most basic rights guarantees in the Constitution.
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