On Thursday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) announced that he would join in the fray of reckless lawsuits against lawful gun makers, and NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre quickly responded. "Today, the mayor of Washington, D.C., announces the most cowardly of solutions to gun crime: sue the firearm manufacturers," said LaPierre. "What they are NOT announcing is that gun criminals have a ... (distinct) advantage over their innocent victims here." You might recall that D.C. has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, including a virtual handgun ban in effect since 1977, that have failed to quell the activities of armed criminals. Mayor Williams even stated at his press conference, "We're supposed to have the toughest gun prohibitions in the nation, and yet our streets are flooded with guns...It's illegal. It's dangerous. It's entirely preventable, and yet it's happening."
Mr. LaPierre commented, "We challenge the mayor to join us in walking the halls of Congress to ask for 50 federal prosecutors to enforce the existing federal gun laws here in Washington and send those criminals to federal prison...." Also reacting to Mayor Williams' announcement was NRA Board Member and U.S. Representative Bob Barr (R-Ga.), who commented that the District "has no right to attempt to dictate national policy on firearms by filing an utterly frivolous lawsuit against gun manufacturers." Congress has stepped in before to stop the D.C. government from taking action, and Barr intimated that legislation may soon be introduced to put a stop to this threatened reckless lawsuit.
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