Washington DC Police Chief Charles A. Ramsey is another individual who has the blood of innocents on his hands because he, too, vehemently opposes the constitutionally protected right of private citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense.

How bad is violent crime in our nation’s capital? It’s so bad that even cops don’t feel safe at home in Washington DC!

The Washington Times (5/20/03) reports that a gunman fired six high-caliber rounds into the Chevy Blazer of Metro Transit Police Captain William Malone who lives in the northeast part of DC. This is the same neighborhood where in April there was a triple murder (unsolved) of three workers at a local tavern. In December of 2000, the wife of Fifth District Master Patrol Officer Fred Rosario was shot at as she and her 3-year-old son stood outside their home — which is 2.5 miles from Capt. Malone’s home.

According to an investigative report obtained by the Times, police downgraded the shooting at the Rosario home to an “incident” three days after it happened and closed the case. Mrs. Rosario says that even though she sees the man who did the shooting in the neighborhood, she’s given up pursuing the case.

The Washington Post (4/20/03) reports that a recent rash of murders in DC “have put Washington on a pace for the sharpest spike in its homicide rate since the late 1980s and revived fears that the city could again become infamous for its violence.” Homicides in DC are thus far up 24 percent compared to last year.

Commenting on this mounting carnage, the Post quotes Chief Ramsey as saying that it’s not uncommon to find at a murder scene nowadays “half a dozen, a dozen, or 30 shell casings” because criminals are using more high-powered guns. He adds: “I’ve been in policing for more than 35 years, and I mean, this many head shots, it’s astounding.”

DC Council member Kevin P. Chavous says: “Our citizens are getting more and more afraid of what’s going on in the streets. We’re clearly at a crisis.” Despite this growing fear, however, in another story, the Washington Post (5/4/03) — after reviewing police records and interviewing city officials — reports: “D.C. police routinely staff neighborhood patrols below their own minimum standards, with some areas having just one officer or none.”

In two of his columns in the Washington Post in May, citing numerous specific examples of violent crime in DC, Colbert I. King says, regarding these violent criminals: “Think of all the pistols tucked in waistbands across the city. And all the gunshot victims in wheelchairs, and the murders we rack up by the day.” Referring to “dudes dealing dope, the thugs doing all the robbing and stealing,” he says that these are “predators having their way.”

Still, despite all this, and much more, Chief Ramsey is fanatically opposed to any private DC citizens being allowed to keep and bear arms for self-defense. He remains a strong, mindless supporter of his city’s failed gun control laws.

In an interview on the Kojo Nnamdi Show (4/22/03) on radio station WAMU-FM in Washington DC, Ramsey was asked an excellent question by the host: “What would you say to those who say DC has the strictest gun control laws in the country but the homicide rate with handguns is rising?”

Ramsey:

    What I would say is that the majority of handguns we recover come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Florida. They come from outside the District of Columbia. And as long as we have lax handgun laws in different parts of this country, we’re always going to have a problem because they may not be able to buy them in the District. But all you have to do is go right across the border and buy a gun.

Well, like I say, this was an excellent question. It’s too bad, however, that the host didn’t follow up and note that it’s true that in the states that border Washington DC, the gun control laws are more lax than the gun control laws in DC. But, in these same states, the violent crime rate by criminals with guns is much lower! So much for the bogus notion that looser gun control laws mean more violent crimes committed by people using guns.

A caller tells Ramsey that several DC residents have gone to court to ask that they be allowed to have guns in their homes for self-defense. Also, one member of the DC Cab Commission has advocated allowing cab drivers to have guns for self-defense. Does he support this constitutionally-protected right of private citizens to keep and bear arms?

Ramsey:

    No, I don’t support any change in the current District gun laws.

The caller persists. He asks Ramsey: “Why do you think it’s a bad idea for private citizens to be allowed to protect themselves with guns?”

Ramsey:

    Well, because all we’re going to do is wind up with more people getting shot. Road rage is a good example, with people using handguns to resolve conflict. More kids are going to wind up shooting each other in a house where there’s a gun lying around.

    Cab drivers, I mean — and this is not a knock on cab drivers — but we also know how some people handle driving on the streets of our city and I’d hate to think we’d have more armed people out there cutting one another off in traffic and a variety of things like that because that again can cause problems. I just don’t support it. Guns in the hands of the wrong people is just bad news.

But, like all the anti-gun-nuts, Chief Gun-Grabber — who of course carries a gun himself for protection — doesn’t get it. In his city, right now, there are, no doubt, thousands of guns in the hands of “the wrong people”! These guns are in the hands of murderous criminals who are slaughtering your fellow citizens whom you don’t want to have guns to defend themselves!

It is, however, probably true that if DC citizens were allowed to keep and bear arms “more people” would be shot. And many of them would be the murderers and thugs who are presently murdering and robbing your fellow citizens with impunity.

And your cab drivers, Chief, of course you were knocking them. They have one of the most dangerous, deadly jobs in America. And all you worry about is that they might possibly misuse their guns if they were allowed to have them. But, how about the possibility that they might use their weapons to defend their own lives? Why do you assume the worse if these poor working stiffs were simply allowed to exercise their constitutionally-protected right?

I’ll tell you what’s “bad news,” Chief. What’s “bad news” is your pig-headed support of your city’s unconstitutional, failed, gun control laws which have left many of your private citizens dead, in cold blood, shot down on the streets, like dogs, with all those high-powered shots to the head.

A footnote: Adding insult to injury, Chief Gun-Grabber has not only not been fired — which he should have been — Mayor Anthony Williams, another gun-grabber, has given him a new contract raising his annual salary by 17 percent to $175,000! And so it goes in Washington DC. Prove, with a vengeance, that you’re a failure — and get a hefty raise.