Testimony on Weapons- Prohibiting Handguns Near Public Places of Public Assembly
(Original Post Date: July 2017)
Hearing Date: 7/25/2017
For context, the language in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (that makes it legal to enslave people as punishment for a crime) made legal the way for the American justice system to become the long arm of white supremacy. This language has enabled the continuation of racist narratives to justify enslavement primarily of people of African descent for profit. From the peonage of the Jim Crow South to the Rockefeller Drug Laws of the Industrial North, lawmakers, courts, State’s or District Attorneys and police have brutally applied any number of unjust laws upon the Black community. The proposed Weapons -Prohibiting Handguns Near Public Places of Public Assembly legislation is but one recent example.
The council has before it a law establishing mandatory minimum sentence of one year for carrying a handgun near places of public assembly; despite sufficient research indicating that the use of mandatory minimums is ineffective. There are those that believe this research only applies to non-violent, drug related offenses. I disagree and posit that the populations of those arrested for non-violent drug offenses and those arrested for carrying or possessing “Illegal weapons” are much the same. And, I say “illegal weapons” because based on my reading of this law and the opinion of a local lawyer legal gun owners could be arrested, charged and convicted under the law as currently written. As such, this legislation will continue the legacy of racial profiling, overcharging and other forms of police misconduct.
In the last two weeks, we have seen two examples of the type of police maleficence that makes the use of mandatory minimums so disturbing. First is the case of Officer Richard Pinheiro; Baltimore Police Department Officer seen on his own body camera allegedly planting evidence. The second was the recovery of a suspected crime gun at the house of a former Baltimore City Police Commander, Dan Lioi. While neither man has been convicted the circumstances certainly point toward wrongdoing. These incidents underscore the potential for police abuse of power. The police do not need another law with which to railroad people. Neither the State’s Attorney’s office nor the court is off the hook here because prosecutors routinely offer plea bargains for cases with weak or cooked-up evidence and the courts accept them.
The checks in the justice system are not balancing when it comes to Black people but that is the result of the incomplete abolition of slavery driven by the capitalist imperative. I ask: How much is being spent on policing and jailing innocent folks? How much has this city spent over that last 10 years in settlements for police misconduct? How many innocent people have been held in captivity because they could not make bail? How many were subsequently convicted because they couldn’t afford quality counsel? Too much and too many- There are already sufficient gun laws on the books. We should be making sure those are being fairly applied and prosecuted before adding more, especially not the variety that make it easy for the police to use their clearly unchecked power to play out a racist narrative of Black inferiority and criminality.
Perhaps the city council should direct its work toward addressing the root causes of crime in Baltimore instead of attempting to cover the symptoms with legislation crafted from diseased charging and sentencing practices. Many of the people committing and being victimized by gun crimes are drug addicted and/or lead exposed. Significant resources should be put toward prevention and rehabilitation of both the mental/emotional condition of the affected and the physical condition of their neighborhoods to solve the problems. A blighted Baltimore will continue to be a bleeding Baltimore.
Nneka N’namdi, District 11
