Virginia Gun Rights

NPR ran this story yesterday on the DC Voting Rights Act/DC Gun Rights Amendment.  The theme of the story was how the big bad NRA injected itself into how the House does its business by making a vote on voting rights for DC without the pro-rights amendment a tabulated vote against the rights of gun owners.

 They found some Indiana representative who said he has always been an NRA supporter to say “But the NRA is wrong on this one.”  In fact, the NPR reporter actually begins the story by asking “What does all this have to do with guns?  Well nothing.”  

 They miss the whole point – that DC has to recognize the rights guaranteed by the Constitution – they can’t pick and choose what they want.  Norton has said she will not entertain a vote on the bill if it includes the pro-rights amendment

The story reports that for her part, DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton plans to use a similar tactic by getting “civil rights” organizations to count the vote negatively against any member that votes for what Norton calls a poison pill.  Norton is qouted as saying “we have to get this bill without the amendment.”

Yeah, when was the last time that so-called civil rights interest groups carried the clout of the NRA in an election.  Further, the right to self defense is a basic civil right so a vote for the DC Gun Rights Amendment should be a positve civil rights vote.