The recent federal takeover of Washington, D.C., appears to have had the intended effect of improving public safety, and the Trump administration is now on a roll, working not only to clean up the streets but to make private gun ownership great again in America’s capital.
One major step the administration has taken is to make the process of applying for concealed-carry permits easier. According to a recent report from Fox News Digital, Trump’s Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is doing just that.
‘President Trump is not only stopping violent crime in Washington, D.C.; he is also streamlining the permitting process for law-abiding residents.’
Trump established the task force — comprising members of the Departments of the Interior, Homeland Security, and Transportation; the FBI; the ATF; area U.S. Attorney’s Offices; and other entities — in March through an executive order, directing it to, among other things, collaborate “with appropriate local government entities to provide assistance to increase the speed and lower the cost of processing concealed carry license requests in the District of Columbia.”
Since then, the average permitting process time has been reduced “from several months to just five days,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News.
“President Trump is not only stopping violent crime in Washington, D.C.; he is also streamlining the permitting process for law-abiding residents who want the ability to protect themselves and their families,” Rogers added.
RELATED: ‘Beautiful, clean, and safe’: Trump assembling A-team to crack down on DC crime, beautify city
Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The task force appears to have helped shorten the firearm registration process in the district as well, according to Fox News. Whereas D.C. residents used to wait up to four months for a registration appointment with the Metropolitan Police Department, they may now book an appointment for the following day. Walk-in appointments are even available now too.
The Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is also exploring other ways to expand legal access to gun ownership in D.C., which has some of the strictest gun restrictions in the country despite the Heller and Bruen decisions from the Supreme Court. One idea on the table is CCP reciprocity with other states. Another is allowing women with a CCP to carry in their purses or handbags rather than on their persons, Fox News said.
‘Imagine if DC’s government adopted crime control measures for a year or three. DC might actually become a safe and vibrant community again.’
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro is likewise taking gun-related matters into her own hands, declining to issue felony charges against those carrying rifles and shotguns, according to the Washington Post. D.C. bans carrying rifles and shotguns except in rare cases, and first-time violators can face up to five years in prison. However, a new policy created by the DOJ and its solicitor general changes the enforcement of this local law.
While Pirro reiterated that her office will still pursue cases of violent gun offenders and those engaged in firearms trafficking, she told the Post that the general ban against carrying rifles and shotguns “is clearly a violation of the Supreme Court’s holdings.”
“Nothing in this memo from the Department of Justice and the Office of Solicitor General precludes the United States Attorney’s Office from charging a felon with the possession of a firearm, which includes a rifle, shotgun, and attendant large-capacity magazine pursuant to D.C. Code 22-4503. What it does preclude is a separate charge of possession of a registered rifle or shotgun,” Pirro told the Post.
Pirro’s office has not indicated that it will change its policies about prosecuting illegal ownership of handguns, which are used in the majority of gun-related crimes in D.C., the Post reported.
RELATED: Jeanine Pirro rips into reporter over crime in DC: ‘You tell these families crime has dropped!’
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John Boch, the executive director of the Second Amendment advocacy group Guns Save Life, is cheering these changes implemented in D.C. by the Trump administration.
“For generations, statist politicians have told us that gun control is the answer to the gang violence in our cities. In reality, crime control was all that was needed. Targeting good guys with guns doesn’t reduce violent crime. It makes it worse. Because criminals don’t care about what they see as silly laws,” Boch told Blaze News.
“President Donald Trump’s team has opted to go with crime control instead of failed gun control to address crime across America, and for the last week or so in Washington, D.C., in particular,” Boch continued, noting that these federal interventions have made progress in just a week.
“Imagine if D.C.’s government adopted crime control measures for a year or three. D.C. might actually become a safe and vibrant community again.”
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