Full disclosure: as a journalist, I have no official opinions on any number of issues. But the anti-democratic banana republic style of governance imposed on the citizens of Washington DC aint one of them.

As you non-Washingtons are (hopefully) aware, those of us who live in the nation’s capital don’t have a full vote in Congress. Yes, we have a non-voting delegate, but the term “non-voting” tells you everything you need to know. We have no senators. We pay taxes, serve in the military and on juries, yet we have no say on whether or not to raise those taxes, whether or not to enter those wars, or who should be appointed to serve in our nation’s courts. It is, in a word, disgraceful. And I’m not going to apologize for it.

Yet I digress.

There’s a bill working its way through Congress (again!) that would give the District a full voting seat in the House (and Republican-leaning Utah would also get one). Republicans have attached a rider to the bill that would strip the city of nearly all its gun laws, and city officials are trying to decide if a vote in Congress in worth the price of losing control on gun-control laws.

What’s this got to do with religion? A whole bunch of religious groups have signed on to a letter urging Congress not to support the gun control rider on the voting bill:

“Though proponents of such legislation claim it would restore Second Amendment rights in the District of Columbia, in actuality it prevents the 600,000 District of Columbia residents from enacting comprehensive, constitutional common-sense regulations to reduce gun violence and ensure their community’s safety.”