EDITORIAL & OPINION

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Photo by Jeff Malet.

D.C.’s Red Flag Gun Law

It is difficult to imagine anything more frightful or tragic than having one’s own child murdered at school by a gunman who signaled his intentions publicly before the deed.

Increasingly teenagers are committing suicide, most often with a gun. “Most of the time we know the gunmen in a case of violence here in D.C.,” said Police Chief Robert Contee recently. It’s as astonishing as it is heartbreaking that in almost every case of school shooting, the murderer turns out to be a young man who was known as “troubled.” Almost always family and friends suspected.

Law enforcement needs help from the public before an incident occurs. And, there’s one way to help: the red flag gun law. It allows family members, neighbors, professional counselors and police to privately notify law enforcement of their concerns about a troubled person they know with a gun. That can trigger a judge to immediately review the problem and to issue a warrant to seize that person’s gun or guns temporarily for hours, days, weeks or months.

The crucial need for red flag gun laws was recognized after the horror experienced by parents of a disturbed adult child in Los Angeles in 2014 when he told them he was headed to Santa Barbara to kill students at the university where he had been rejected. They frantically called police in Santa Barbara to stop his car. But the police said they couldn’t do anything unless he committed a crime. That afternoon on May 23, 2014, the young man killed six people and wounded 13 students in UCSB’S college town Isla Vista by shooting through the open window of his car. Two years later California passed a state-wide red flag gun law. This summer in 2022, Santa Barbara Congressman Salud Carbajal introduced national red flag gun law legislation in Congress.

“School shooters only hide their intentions from those who aren’t looking,” wrote Wall Street Journal columnist Holman W. Jenkins Jr. on May 28. Red flag laws are there for that. But they are rarely used. Maybe they’re almost too personal. Maybe friends don’t want to be seen as a “snitch.” Families often think they can handle it themselves. Some see red flag laws as “disproportionately hurting the poor and people of color.” Some don’t want to see private guns taken away by the government no matter what the reason. And many people – most perhaps – don’t want to get involved.

But we have to be first responders. Think of it as “if you know something, say something.” If you’re concerned about a family member or a colleague with a gun, you can fill out an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) online at dc.gov and help prevent another tragedy. Do it!

Accountability for The Year Ahead

BY BROOKE PINTO

Following her confirmation as Chairwoman for the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on the D.C. Council, Ward 2 Council Member Brooke Pinto issued the following statement:

I am honored to serve as the Chairwoman for the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.

Every resident deserves to be and feel safe in their home and community. I am extremely concerned by the high rate of gun violence in communities across the District. I believe we can have a safe society and a just society. Thus, I intend to continue to be a close partner with our new Attorney General, the executive, our hard-working Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, our public defender service, and our criminal justice advocacy community to advance laws and policies that enhance public safety.

The District has a responsibility to provide each and every one of our residents with the support and tools they need to succeed. I am eager to build on the years of work by the executive and the Council to identify and address those service gaps, with a focus on meeting residents where they are and providing them with critical, tailored support -- preventing crime before it happens.

As Chairwoman of the Committee, I am committed to moving forward these critical goals. While many additional areas of focus will develop through partnerships and collaboration over the coming months, I am focused on the following three areas:

ENHANCING PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE COURT SYSTEM

• Working with our first responders to ensure they have the resources and tools they need to quickly and effectively respond to incidents of crime and emergencies, investigate and close cases, and support the community to prevent crime before it occurs; • Reforming the Office of Unified

Communications to reduce emergency call response times and dispatcher errors; • Increasing safety at the District’s parks and schools; • Exercising critical oversight of the new

Forensic Science and Public Health

Laboratory to ensure the District has an accredited, reliable forensics lab; • Coordinating with the Committee on

Transportation and the Environment to enhance safety for residents, especially women and LGBTQIA+ residents, on public transit; • Providing support for the District’s court system to ensure full staffing and accessibility;

IMPROVING SUPPORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERSERVED RESIDENTS AND COMMUNITIES

• Creating hospitality-sector and STEM job training programs for returning citizens and underserved youth; • Establishing health-focused nutrition standards for meals and other food offerings at the DC Jail; • Increasing coordination between our public safety sector agencies and restorative justice workers to enhance the effectiveness of violence interruptions services;

DEVELOPING INTERAGENCY AND CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS

• Facilitating and increasing coordination between MPD and other District agencies on responsibilities that have been transitioned from public safety officers to other service providers; • Enhancing mental health supports for public safety officers; • Accelerating work at HSEMA on climatebased emergency preparedness, including energy grid resiliency, emergency preparedness, and flood planning.”

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor and Staff Members,

I was appalled to read the recent “Letter to the Editor” from The Grinch (“Larry”), whose abrasive and adversarial tone was entirely unworthy of your invaluable newspaper, not to mention very inappropriate in this season of Thanksgiving!

I, for one, admire and respect the dedication The Georgetowner has shown towards providing news to this community and am thankful to have such interesting and pertinent news brought to us on a regular basis.

Thank you for all that you do.

Happy Holidays!

— Anonymous Fan of The Georgetowner