On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated that the District of Columbia’s criminal code takes “a balanced approach” to crime, “There are many parts” that he “would jump at if we could put them into the state of Illinois or on a federal basis,” and that he opposes Congress invalidating the code and pre-empting a local government “in this situation” isn’t wise.
Durbin said, “There are many parts of this new criminal code in D.C. that I would jump at if we could put them into the state of Illinois or on a federal basis, crime guns, for example. Gun violence is one of the leading causes of death in America and the leading cause of death for those under the age of 18. D.C., in this version of their criminal code, is moving forward to try to control these crime guns. I salute that. Some of the penalties are increasing and some are going down. It’s back and forth. It seems to me to be a balanced approach. And for Congress to pre-empt any local government, including the District of Columbia, is, in this situation, I think, unwise.”
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