Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

“District of Crime”: Shocking Case Characteristic of D.C. Approach to Violence

Monday, May 13, 2024

“District of Crime”: Shocking Case Characteristic of D.C. Approach to Violence

When a reasonable person finds it impossible to take anti-gun big city politicians and their professed “need” for more gun control seriously, maybe it’s stories like this one from Washington, D.C. that play a role. On May 8, District of Columbia CBS affiliate WUSA published a story with the astounding headline “Prosecutors say he emptied an AR-15 rifle into a public DC street. A judge granted him pre-trial release.

According to the item, prosecutors allege that on April 22 an 18-year-old went into the middle of a public street in Southeast D.C. with an AR-15 and fired 26 shots at a moving motor vehicle. The article pointed out that the young adult has been “charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a gun during a violent crime. Both are felonies.”

Despite the alleged outrageous conduct, the accused was granted pre-trial release. The article explained, “After [the accused] was initially detained, Judge Lloyd Nolan granted a public defender’s motion for pre-trial release, placing [the accused] on home detention in Maryland with GPS monitoring and a stay-away order from the other people in the car.”

Lest anyone think that a lack of sufficient evidence may have played a role, the incident was reportedly caught on video by no less than three cameras. WUSA obtained two of the videos, and readers are encouraged to watch the shocking footage here.

Summing up the situation, one neighborhood resident told the media outlet, “There is no accountability. We are living in the District of Crime.”

Setting aside the present incident, law-abiding gun owners get understandably frustrated when the same jurisdictions braying for more gun control take a soft touch with those who misuse firearms to harm others. The situation is even more galling when that jurisdiction is Washington, D.C. The federal enclave’s local government operates at the pleasure of the federal government. When the federal government uses its vast powers to target innocuous gun owners throughout the nation while refusing to adequately confront actual violent crime in their own enclave, people have a right to be upset and a right to question the motives of those pushing ever greater gun control.

As NRA-ILA has repeatedly pointed out, when it comes to D.C. violent crime policy, there is plenty of low-hanging fruit to be picked. This is in part because violent crime is heavily concentrated among individuals that are already known to law enforcement. This means that vigorous prosecution of an exceedingly small subset of the population could severely impact violent crime without resorting to attacking the rights of law-abiding citizens.

A December 2021 study from the federal enclave’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) found that “In Washington, DC, most gun violence is tightly concentrated.” The report went on to explain,

This small number of very high risk individuals are identifiable, their violence is predictable, and therefore it is preventable. Based on the assessment of data and the series of interviews conducted, [National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform] estimates that within a year, there are at least 500 identifiable people who rise to this level of very high risk, and likely no more than 200 at any one given time. These individuals comprise approximately 60-70% of all gun violence in the District.

According to the report, “Approximately 86 percent of homicide victims and suspects were known to the criminal justice system prior to the incident. Among all victims and suspects, about 46 percent had been previously incarcerated.” Further, “most victims and suspects with prior criminal offenses had been arrested about 11 times for about 13 different offenses by the time of the homicide.”

More recently, the Heritage Foundation published an item discussing the District’s lackluster prosecutorial practices under U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, analyzing information from the D.C. Sentencing Commission’s 2023 Annual Report. Back in December, NRA-ILA questioned Graves’s grasp of federal gun law when he was quoted in the Washington Post in a manner suggesting the U.S. Attorney may not understand the federal definition of a “machinegun.”

The Heritage piece noted,

Every day, law enforcement officers in the District of Columbia arrest felons who are in possession of a firearm. Every day, those cases are presented to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

Under Graves’ tepid leadership over the past two years, over 2,000 gun cases either were not prosecuted, dropped, or pled down to lesser charges in D.C. Superior Court, according to the D.C. Sentencing Commission’s annual report.

Readers are encouraged to read the rest of the report here.

Given the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to tackle violent crime perpetrated with firearms in its own backyard using the existing laws at their disposal, federal politicians’ demands to further encumber law-abiding gun owners should be met the skepticism, and derision, it deserves.

TRENDING NOW
North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control.

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

There’s an old saying that rings especially true to Second Amendment supporters: If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed.

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

News  

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

With the free speech debate recently co-opted by one TV host’s use of false and incendiary remarks about his political opponents, it might have been easy to miss another important First Amendment story last week. 

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.