As of late, there has been a huge kerfuffle surrounding the open carry of firearms in Virginia; (something that has been legal for almost 400 years). In one of the most even handed articles I've ever read, the Washington Times delivers this hilarious gem from a resident in our Northern neighbor, the District of Columbia.

Virginia state Sen. Janet D. Howell says she was surprised when a D.C. resident sent her an e-mail saying he won't be crossing the Potomac into Virginia anymore because of the open-carry law.

"He feels that the District of Columbia is a safer place to be," said Mrs. Howell, Fairfax County Democrat.

Are we supposed to care that some guy is afraid to cross the river into Virginia because we don't prohibit our citizens from carrying firearms? My guess is that this guy must be a criminal looking for easy prey. They are the only ones that have anything to fear.

As for which is safer, I'll let the statistics speak for themselves.

Crime statistics, however, indicate that Fairfax County is much safer than the District, even though the city has a fraction of the population of its southern neighbor.

From January through April this year, Fairfax County had four homicides while the District had 64. There were 189 robberies in Fairfax County compared with 1,214 robberies in the District, and 18 rapes compared with 100 rapes in the city.

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a "crime emergency" yesterday...

The population estimate of Washington DC (for 2003) is 563,000. Fairfax has over 1 million. I rest my case.