Sen. Hutchison fights for her right to bear arms
Date: May 21, 2005 1:53 AM
FYI (copy below):
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/051905kvueHutchison-eh.28e138062.html
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Sen. Hutchison fights for her right to bear arms

05:07 PM CDT on Thursday, May 19, 2005

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – She may be able to hang a giant Lone Star flag
outside her office, but Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said
Thursday there’s one part of her Texas culture she couldn’t
bring to the nation’s capital — her handgun.

Hutchison said she didn’t know when she arrived from Austin
in 1993 that the District of Columbia prohibits keeping a
fully assembled handgun in the home. The district’s ban has
been in place since 1975.

Hutchison, a Republican who is considering a 2006 run for
Texas governor, introduced legislation Thursday to lift the
ban. If the bill passes she said she would keep a gun in
her D.C. home.

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and George Allen, R-Va., are
co-sponsors.

“I have always had a handgun in the drawer next to my bed,
and I would certainly again have one if it were legal in
D.C.,” Hutchison said.

Her office said her handgun is a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum
revolver.

Hutchison said after she learned of the D.C. gun ban, she
dismantled her gun, bought a travel case for it and took it
back to Texas. She said she’s complying with the law even
though she thinks it’s unconstitutional.

“I think every woman in the District of Columbia should have
the ability to protect herself in her home,” she said.

Her office later clarified that in her home in Dallas,
Hutchison keeps her gun in a safe with a trigger lock, high
above the reach of her two young children. Her office also
said she would do the same in Washington if her bill becomes
law and she is still living there.

Hutchison previously served as chair of the Appropriations
subcommittee that oversees funding for the District of
Columbia.

A similar attempt at repealing D.C.’s gun ban failed last
year. Hutchison lends the clout of a member of the
Republican leadership — she is the vice-chair of the
Republican Conference — and her measure has 25 co-sponsors.

Cornyn’s office said he has several types of guns and rifles
and keeps them in an “undisclosed location.”