An unarmed security guard thwarted a gunman in Washington on Wednesday using nothing but his body - and that’s just what D.C. officials want.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray cited Leonardo Johnson’s being shot in the arm while protecting coworkers at the Family Research Council (FRC) as proof the capital city’s restrictive gun laws are effective. It’s dangerous to think unarmed guards are always going to be able to protect the innocent from determined criminals.
On Thursday, the mayor told NewsChannel 8’s Bruce DePuyt that he is “proud of the gun laws we have here in the District of Columbia,” which he called “the most stringent, restrictive” in the country. Mr. Gray believes it’s significant that the accused shooter, Floyd Lee Corkins II, bought a 9mm handgun in his home state of Virginia.
“He would not have been able to do that in the District of Columbia,” the mayor said. “When guns are available, they will get them - like in a situation like this and use them for potentially tragic purposes, as this man did yesterday.”
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier said Mr. Johnson was a “hero” because “he didn’t allow the armed person past the front, so he did his job.”Mr. Johnson might have been able to do his job without getting shot had the city recognized his constitutional right to bear arms. CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE COLUMN.
Emily Miller is a senior editor for the Opinion pages at The Washington Times. Her “Emily Gets Her Gun” series on the District’s gun laws won the 2012 Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting from the Institute on Political Journalism.You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
