The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) is seeking to implement a ban on gun possession among their tenants, effectively preventing law-abiding tenants from keeping guns for self-defense.
The move comes after a 20-year-old man was shot to death following a “peace rally” Sunday night. A “person of interest” in the shooting has been arrested and is being held on “six outstanding warrants.” According to WBRC, HABD president and CEO Michael Lundy now wants to ban gun ownership of all tenants, including law-abiding citizens. He indicated that HABD “recently approved adding the gun restriction to new lease agreements involving public housing property in Birmingham.”
Ignoring the realities of history — of what happens to crime rates when law-abiding citizens are prohibited from gun possession — Lundy stood by the public housing gun ban, saying, “We’re going to solve this problem. We’ll do whatever it takes to solve this problem.”
In addition to the gun ban, Lundy said HABD will “[coordinate] with police and residence leadership to establish block watch programs, [and] maintain and boost patrols where needed and hire a public safety director for the authority.”
WBRC reports that the “gun ban language” that will be included in lease agreements has not been finalized.
Around the country, housing authorities that receive public funds have been sued for barring the exercise of Constitutional rights. The HABD is likely to face lawsuits as well.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.