bobbyw24
09-01-2009, 04:41 AM
http://current.com/items/90833158_house-panel-adopts-amendment-allowing-guns-in-public-housing.htm
House Panel adopts amendment allowing guns in Public Housing
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm...
Gun rights advocates scored a victory Thursday as the House Financial Services Committee adopted an amendment to allow guns in public housing projects.
The amendment, by Tom Price , Ra?`Ga., would bar any housing authority from restricting legal ownership of guns. It was adopted, 38-31, as the committee continued its markup of a housing bill (HR 3045) that the panel is expected to approve next week.
“Seniors and other individuals have the right to protect themselves,” said Joe Baca of California, one of 13 Democrats who voted for the amendment. “Those guns would be registered, and those individuals have a right, in public housing or any other place, to protect themselves.”
While the Department of Housing and Urban Development does not have a specific policy concerning guns in public housing, several local agencies have banned them in an effort to reduce violent crime in housing projects. Major urban centers began to adopt gun bans in the 1990s, and advocates of such steps argue that the bans have improved the safety of public housing.
“There was a time during the ’70s and ’80s when public housing developments were considered killing grounds,” said Emanuel Cleaver II , D-Mo., who grew up in public housing. “It is just foolhardy to place guns in developments of poor people, many of whom are unemployed, and place these guns around children. . . . Why would we try to put guns in the most densely populated areas in the urban core? It’s just unbelievable.”
Only two Republicans — Peter T. King of New York and Michael N. Castle of Delaware — voted against the amendment.
Carolyn McCarthy , D-N.Y., a longtime gun control advocate, said opponents of the Price amendment would try to remove the language from the bill at a later point in the legislative process, without subjecting the issue to a recorded vote.
“What we’re trying to do will not involve votes,” McCarthy said.
Several Democrats also backed a separate Price amendment that would require anyone applying for Section 8 rent vouchers to produce a photo ID card that meets REAL ID standards, such as a passport or other identification approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The committee adopted the amendment, 37-31.
Opponents of the amendment argued that the measure, if intended to weed out illegal immigrants, was redundant, as they are already prohibited from receiving public housing assistance.
“This just hurts Americans,” said Baca, who said the measure would likely keep those who cannot afford to pay for such identification, such as the chronically poor and homeless, or the eligible relatives of uncooperative applicants, from getting the public subsidy vouchers.
Democrats blocked a series of GOP amendments aimed at reducing the supply of 150,000 additional Section 8 vouchers authorized under the bill, or requiring offsets before such new vouchers can be issued.
The last remaining hurdle to the bill is resolution on the Moving to Work program, an incentive-based initiative to get people into jobs that would in turn move them off Section 8 housing vouchers.
Democrats have resisted making broad expansions to the work incentives program, opting for a 10-year reauthorization with new initiatives limited and closely monitored under the bill. Republicans want time limits and back-to-work conditions on Section 8 vouchers in an effort to reduce what they criticize as unchecked dependency on the program.
House Panel adopts amendment allowing guns in Public Housing
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm...
Gun rights advocates scored a victory Thursday as the House Financial Services Committee adopted an amendment to allow guns in public housing projects.
The amendment, by Tom Price , Ra?`Ga., would bar any housing authority from restricting legal ownership of guns. It was adopted, 38-31, as the committee continued its markup of a housing bill (HR 3045) that the panel is expected to approve next week.
“Seniors and other individuals have the right to protect themselves,” said Joe Baca of California, one of 13 Democrats who voted for the amendment. “Those guns would be registered, and those individuals have a right, in public housing or any other place, to protect themselves.”
While the Department of Housing and Urban Development does not have a specific policy concerning guns in public housing, several local agencies have banned them in an effort to reduce violent crime in housing projects. Major urban centers began to adopt gun bans in the 1990s, and advocates of such steps argue that the bans have improved the safety of public housing.
“There was a time during the ’70s and ’80s when public housing developments were considered killing grounds,” said Emanuel Cleaver II , D-Mo., who grew up in public housing. “It is just foolhardy to place guns in developments of poor people, many of whom are unemployed, and place these guns around children. . . . Why would we try to put guns in the most densely populated areas in the urban core? It’s just unbelievable.”
Only two Republicans — Peter T. King of New York and Michael N. Castle of Delaware — voted against the amendment.
Carolyn McCarthy , D-N.Y., a longtime gun control advocate, said opponents of the Price amendment would try to remove the language from the bill at a later point in the legislative process, without subjecting the issue to a recorded vote.
“What we’re trying to do will not involve votes,” McCarthy said.
Several Democrats also backed a separate Price amendment that would require anyone applying for Section 8 rent vouchers to produce a photo ID card that meets REAL ID standards, such as a passport or other identification approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The committee adopted the amendment, 37-31.
Opponents of the amendment argued that the measure, if intended to weed out illegal immigrants, was redundant, as they are already prohibited from receiving public housing assistance.
“This just hurts Americans,” said Baca, who said the measure would likely keep those who cannot afford to pay for such identification, such as the chronically poor and homeless, or the eligible relatives of uncooperative applicants, from getting the public subsidy vouchers.
Democrats blocked a series of GOP amendments aimed at reducing the supply of 150,000 additional Section 8 vouchers authorized under the bill, or requiring offsets before such new vouchers can be issued.
The last remaining hurdle to the bill is resolution on the Moving to Work program, an incentive-based initiative to get people into jobs that would in turn move them off Section 8 housing vouchers.
Democrats have resisted making broad expansions to the work incentives program, opting for a 10-year reauthorization with new initiatives limited and closely monitored under the bill. Republicans want time limits and back-to-work conditions on Section 8 vouchers in an effort to reduce what they criticize as unchecked dependency on the program.