Self-Defense and City Pride, All in One!
Walking to the Potomac Avenue metrorail station yesterday morning, this DCist eyed a pink flyer haphazardly taped to a light-post -- nothing too spectacular, spare the message:
Now available...the 'Official' Washington Nationals 'Safe at Home' Bulletproof Vests.These Major-League quality Kevlar vests, with team logos and colors, give sure-fire protection throughout the District of Columbia. And fans coming to RFK Stadium won't need to fear at 15th & C SE or 17th & Independence, where "post game fireworks" can mean Uzis and Glocks.
Prices:
Home Red and Away Blue--$595
Children's Sizes--$395
With genuine player autograph--$1,595DC's been dying for baseball for too long!
This seems less a serious commercial endeavour and more a thinly veiled jab at the District's new hometown baseball team -- and a creative one at that.
D.C. was once well-known as the country's most-murderous city -- there were 454 homicides in 1993, placing the District squarely in the top ranks of the most violent cities per capita -- a distinction that was maintained as recently as 2002 and 2003. But things seem to be looking up, as 2004 saw a decrese in homicides and 2005, to date, is looking to be one of the most peaceful years in recent history (homicides are down 19.4 percent from last year, so far).
Though D.C. has banned the sale and ownership of handguns since 1976, guns of all kinds find their way into the city -- 2,065 were confiscated by police last year alone, and a 2000 report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms found that 97 percent of all guns used in crimes came from outside the city. Though violence seems to be declining city-wide, Congress allowed the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban to expire last September, and some 228 crafty congressmen have even tried to pass laws nullifying the city's strict gun laws. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton once remarked that "The only thing that would cause more murder and mayhem in this city is allowing freer access to guns."
Hmmmm...maybe selling bulletproof vests -- Nationals logo or not -- isn't such a bad idea after all!
What do DCist readers think? Real offer based on a realistic assesment of the city's violent history, or someone trying to make a joke at the city's expense?