Too little, too late?

Washington, D.C. city government officials, panicking over the prospect of losing all of their authority over firearms regulation in their fair town, are frantically drafting yet more legislation that would finally get around to removing some of their arbitrary and onerous "emergency" rules for legally owning handguns in the District.

Policy Try 2.0 would among other things nix the total ban on semiautomatic pistols, remove the one-handgun limit on registrations and unyoke residents from the burden of having to submit their handguns for an undetermined period for ballistic testing. Most importantly, the new legislation would allow people to keep their home defense weapons loaded and readily accessible (read: Useful for their intended purpose) in the event of a criminal break-in.

This is a remarkable turnaround from the heady days after the Supreme Court's Heller decision was announced. At that time Mayor Adrian Fenty, Police Chief Cathi Lanier, councilmembers such as Phil Mendelson and City Attorney Peter Nickles were strutting around talking tough about using every weaselly trick in the book along with some creative interpretation of the law to thwart law-abiding citizens from exercising their Constitutional right to self-defense.

Why the abrupt turnaround?

"The legislation could come up for a vote in the D.C. Council as early as Tuesday -- the same day the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill that would virtually end local handgun control in the District."

Well, what a coincidence! It's amazing what Saul-to-Damascus-type conversions come over politicians when the prospect of losing some of their precious power hangs over them like the sword of Damocles.

"Although the move by the city to ease handgun restrictions coincides with the House effort to virtually strip the District of its power to regulate firearms, Mendelson said officials are not seeking to placate members of Congress."

The thought never crossed my mind, I assure you. (Falls over laughing.)

We fervently hope for the sake of our D.C.-residing relatives that Congress finally steps in and ends the games-playing and tax money-wasting by these municipal clowns.