Winning
Emily Miller: D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown, who will vote for the bill, has made a 180 on gun rights.
And she took him shooting. Amazing how that works.
Update: In comments, Andy points out that:
He picked up some spent brass as souvenirs, which is a felony for a resident of DC to have for a calibre for which they don’t have a registered firearm. Hopefully doing away with that stupidity will be part of the reformation.
Yup, stupid law. Perhaps Mr. Brown will amend the law so he’s not committing a felony.
Update: Emily emails that the law changes that. And that she doesn’t think DC law prohibits possession of casings either. I presumed DC law mimicked MA law and ammunition was defined as ammo and components.
Update: In comments, a lawyer I know says it’s illegal for others but Brown may be excused since he is an officer acting in his official capacity.
April 17th, 2012 at 11:46 am
He picked up some spent brass as souvenirs, which is a felony for a resident of DC to have for a calibre for which they don’t have a registered firearm. Hopefully doing away with that stupidity will be part of the reformation.
April 17th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I think that is one of the laws removed because of Emily’s testimony, but I don’t know the date those changes go into effect. They may already have.
April 17th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Emily, in comments, says “I need to take Marion Barry next ;)”
Emily knows, really knows, her gun laws. I’d love to ask her if she is trying to catch an anti-gun, convicted felon in possession of a firearm, just for entertainment purposes.
April 17th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
And the changes to the law apparently still leave Mr. Brown subject to prosecution for the souvenirs.
http://app.cfo.dc.gov/services/fiscal_impact/pdf/spring09/FINAL%20FIS%20Firearms%20Amendment%20Act%20of%202012.pdf
Respect the google-fu of a bored person at work!
April 17th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Emily may be a reporter, but she’s not a lawyer.
Here’s the applicable language:
First, shell casings and the other constituent components of ammo in and of themselves, as clearly considered ammunition.
Second, while its true that Kwame Brown – as an officer of the District of Columnbia acting in his official capacity, is not violating the law anyone else is S.O.L.
I haven’t seen the actual language that the DC Council is considering today, but as mikee points out, at least based on the summary that Mr. Brown’s office provided, there is nothing in the law that would change the fact that possession shell casings in a caliber other than one you are registered to be in possession of would be illegal (which of course begs the question, what would they do to me – assuming I actually had a gun registered in the DC – if I had a box of .30-06 shells that I intended to neck down and reform into .280 casings).
April 17th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Wish there were an edit function.
The proposal from Kwame Brown actually would change the law regarding possession of ammo in a caliber you aren’t registered to possess. Its the possession of those shell casings by unregistered individuals (ie: someone from Virginia who might want them to display in his office, or who picks them up at Bass Pro in Maryland on his lunch hour) that remains illegal.
So she is both correct, and incorrect.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
damn iphone.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
countertop nails it, but I want to reiterate that only firearms registrants (or Special Ones acting officially, which is quite questionable in the case of a DC official traveling out of DC and bringing back illegal items) are now exempt from owning spent cases.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
And also those training for a registration, since somebody pointed out it is hard to fulfill DC training requirements without using those things that go bang.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
If it is the duty of DC Councilman to go shooting, then it would seem that Brown is the only one ever to have fulfilled his duty.
April 17th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Take away the people and weather and DC is almost livable.
April 17th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Setting aside the legal minutia, look at the “new shooter” smile on Chairman Brown’s face and his apparent excitement to try more. Read how his impression of what a shooting range is and does changed, and how he now has a new perspective on one of his advisors.
Let’s celebrate the small victories that build on each other. He doesn’t have to become bestie’s with Ted Nugent tomorrow for this to be a very positive development for DC.
April 17th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
What Mathew said.
And I suspect that by tomorrow he will have a couple of invites from Democrats in Congress to go shoot a shotgun (and hunt)
April 18th, 2012 at 8:24 am
It’s also worth noting that small ball bearings are ammo if you intend to use them for shot. So, no doomsday prepping – otherwise everything you own that has a ball bearing just became illegal.
April 18th, 2012 at 8:38 am
Whether spent cases are considered souvenirs or ammo, I don’t see how their prohibition could stand even Heller’s itermediate scrutiny.