Gun Ban Legacy: 13 DAYS, 14 HOMICIDES IN DC...

The headline says all that needs to be said about this Washington Post article:

The surge in killings started just after midnight July 1 and has barely let up.

A former church usher was gunned down in a courtyard where flowers bloomed. A 24-year-old woman who lost a close friend to gun violence two years ago was herself shot by a neighbor. Two boyhood friends, who were shot at the same time, died days apart. Their cases received little attention compared with the slayings of a convenience store owner, a community activist and an aspiring British politician. But they created the same kind of anguish for the people they knew.

Many of the month's victims, including John Jackson, 26, were shot numerous times.

"I thought it was firecrackers," said Jackson's mother, Shirley Boyd, of the rapid fire -- in a courtyard across the street -- that startled her awake. It was just after 2 a.m. July 7. "They don't shoot with little guns."

There have been 14 homicides this month: Three on the 1st. Two on the 2nd. One each on the 4th and 5th. Two on the 7th. And one each day from July 8 through Wednesday.

As killings go, this is far from the District's worst stretch, nothing like the one starting in 1988 when the city averaged more than a homicide a day for eight of nine years.

Yet after a decade of declining numbers, this month's killings have so alarmed city officials that D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a crime emergency.

...D.C. police Lt. Robert Glover of the violent crimes unit noted that the city's killers are using more guns, firing more rounds and leaving behind crime scenes that often stretch for blocks. Police have made arrests in two of the cases and are seeking leads in the rest.

"I wish we could just wave a magic wand and say, 'Stop killing each other,' " Glover said.

It's not a magic wand, but you could try asking Congress to pass S. 1082 and H.R. 1288, the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act", legislation which seeks to restore the constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights of the residents of the District of Columbia.

As noted in the NRA's press release announcing prioritization of this legislation last year, the need for this legislation is obvious. While effectively banning handgun ownership for over a quarter-century, Washington, D.C. consistently has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. "D.C.'s politicians have stripped law-abiding residents of their ability to defend themselves and their families," said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. "Passage of the ‘District of Columbia Personal Protection Act' will remedy this senseless and dangerous injustice."