Norton: Mass Shootings Could Come to DC
Voting rights bill runs into trouble
By JIM IOVINO
Updated 9:30 AM EST, Mon, Apr 6, 2009
Two mass shootings last week could be a harbinger of things to come in the District if a proposed gun amendment is allowed by Congress, according to Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Norton said the deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh and the 13 people shot to death in Binghamton, N.Y., emphasize the importance of removing a gun amendment tacked onto the D.C. House Voting Rights Act.
"In only the 25 days between March 10 and April 5, 53 people have been killed in mass murders by gunmen," Norton said in a release. "Yet, members of the House and Senate have not looked at the gun amendment, but have regarded it as just another routine attachment to a local D.C. bill. The bill would eliminate all local gun laws, making the city, including official Washington, more open to gun violence than any of the jurisdictions where the mass killings have occurred in March and April."
Norton has been fighting both internal and external pressure to go forward with the bill despite the addition of the gun amendment.
Mayor Adrian Fenty told the Washington Post he believes District residents support a voting rights bill even if amendments weaken the city's gun control laws.
Fenty told the Washington Post it would be a "tough call" to accept an amendment, but he hopes the city "won't have to make that choice."
First Published: Apr 6, 2009 8:11 AM EST
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