Via NSSF.org By Larry Keane
In a popular up-and-coming area of Washinton, D.C. – just a few blocks from the nation’s Capitol building – a U.S. Congressman was carjacked at gunpoint. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was parking his car just outside an apartment building where he and several other Members of Congress reside. The congressman was unharmed during the attack.
“As Congressman Cuellar was parking his car this evening, 3 armed assailants approached the Congressman and stole his vehicle. Luckily, he was not harmed and is working with local law enforcement,” Rep. Cuellar’s Chief of Staff stated in a press release.
Washington, D.C., police are still searching for the suspects. It can be assumed the firearms used in the crime were illegally obtained or stolen. If the criminals are ever caught and prosecuted, more questions will be answered.
However, there are plenty of reasons why other would-be criminals in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area might rethink their plans for committing crimes. More Americans are arming themselves to protect against criminals such as these.
‘Support Law Enforcement’
The Texas congressman may caucus with the political party in Washington, D.C., that pushes an extreme gun control agenda, but his own record shows areas of support for gun rights. Last year, in the 117th Congress that had a Democratic-controlled House, Rep. Cuellar bucked his own party and voted with House Republicans against U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s (D-N.Y.) strict gun control bill. That legislation would have raised the legal age for U.S. adults to lawfully purchase America’s most popular-selling centerfire rifles, Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). It also would have banned the purchase and possession of standard capacity magazines and required unconstitutional mandatory gun storage in the home.
Also that year, Rep. Cuellar voted against the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, that barely passed the House. The legislation failed to even receive a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Following the incident, Rep. Cuellar struck a different tone than several of his Democratic congressional colleagues have in the past.
“You got to support law enforcement. And I’ve been doing that for a long time. I have three brothers who are peace officers,” Rep. Cuellar told Fox News. “I do want to thank the Capitol Police and I certainly want to thank the Metro Police. I’m a big law enforcement person. I got three boys in law enforcement. So I certainly appreciate the good work that the police did.”
This isn’t the first attack on a Member of Congress this year in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted in her apartment building and suffered bruises while escaping more serious injuries.
‘They Target Us’
Surging crime in the District of Columbia is a growing concern and has been for several years. Washington, D.C., recently recorded its 200th homicide and it marked the first time in two decades that the federal city has had at least 200 murders for three years in a row. It was the earliest the grim marker has been surpassed. The Metro Police Department recently announced the average murder suspect in the city has eleven prior arrests.
How are would-be victims in Washington, D.C., responding? They aren’t sitting around and waiting to be victimized, especially women in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area – and most specifically African Americans.
“A lot of times men look at women and they think we are defenseless. They target us, first because they think we don’t carry. We can defend ourselves as women, we are not as weak as you think we are.” That’s what Kennette Brown told ABC 7 News in Washington, D.C., about why she obtained her concealed carry permit, purchased her first gun and takes the time to go to training courses.
Calvin Wellington is a firearms instructor for Nova Armory in Arlington, Va., and told media his firearm training courses are now mostly filled with women who are buying and training with firearms.
“The average woman that I get in my class is brand new to this,” Wellington said. “I have had women call me and thank me because when they walk out of their building to their car at night they are no longer scared.”
“With all the things going on in the world, you just want to be able to protect yourself,” added Nicole Washington. She takes classes to be a more confident and accurate gun owner. “I’m a pretty good shot.”
Nothing New
The trend of more women purchasing firearms for the first time isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s a trend that’s been happening for several years – and is welcomed.
Gun owners are increasingly female and also seeing greater minority gun ownership too, including African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. Last year, NBC News reported on the growing diversity within the gun-owning community with a report titled, “Why more Black people are looking for safety in gun ownership.” The report highlighted NSSF industry data showing 90 percent of gun retailers reported a “general increase” of Black customers, including an 87 percent increase among Black women.
A headline from The Cut read, “The New Face of American Gun Ownership – Black women are pushing against the (white, rural, and male) stereotype.” “In recent years, story after story has furthered the narrative that Black women are the fastest-growing group of gun owners in the country,” The Cut’s report said, adding Black women now make up a majority of the 40,000 members of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA).
Fortunately, Congressman Cuellar’s vehicle and possessions were recovered within only a couple of hours.
“A society without law and order is not a society,” Rep. Cuellar told Fox’s Jesse Waters. When criminals are allowed to run rampant with no risk of prosecution for their crimes, innocent people suffer. Thankfully, Congress overturned the Washington, D.C., City Council’s attempts to enact laughably soft-on-crime policies earlier this year.
Even such, criminals thinking about committing crimes against residents have more reason to think again. They’re law-abiding residents like Kennette Brown and Nicole Washington and they have numerous friends taking a stand and exercising their Second Amendment rights for self-defense too.
Read the article in its entirety at NSSF.org.
