WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's repeal of the ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., may be a boon for a segment of the firearms industry whose last major windfall might have been in the heyday of the Dirty Harry movies: those who make and sell revolvers.
The court ruled that a blanket ban on handguns is unconstitutional, but D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and other Washington officials want to keep in place a prohibition on semiautomatic handguns — those in which a bullet clip is inserted into the gun's grip.
Such a ban would continue to outlaw 9-mm and other popular pistols that are legal in most other places around the United States. And it would make the classic six-shooter the only legal handgun in the District.
Just won't give up, will they? Oh, well, I'd still take that matchup. Revolvers feel better in my hand, more natural and comfortable. But I shoot better with the semiautomatics. The point is, though, that I need not be defenseless when someone wants to do me harm. Gun-control zealots are obsessed with rate of fire, but I don't have to be all that fast. Just readier than the thug thinks I am.
