An aide to Sen. James Webb, Virginia Democrat, was arrested yesterday and charged with attempting to bring a pistol into a congressional office building. By curious coincidence, today's Culture page features a Q&A with Second Amendment historian Clayton Cramer, author of "Armed America." Mr. Cramer talked about, among other things, the District's recently overturned gun ban:

Q: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently struck down the District of Columbia's gun-control law, which was one of the strictest in the country. What impact do you think that ruling will have on gun violence in the District? And do you think the decision will be upheld by the Supreme Court?

A: It is very clear to me that the provisions of the law struck down by the Parker decision -- assuming that it isn't overturned on appeal -- will probably reduce violent crime in the District. Don't have your hopes set too high, however, because cultural factors are the larger determinant of murder rates. Boise, for example, has four or five murders a year in a city of almost 200,000. But we have almost no gun-control laws. Culture matters most. ...

Telling people that they can't have a loaded and functional firearm available in their home for self-defense is criminal because it tells someone who intends robbery, rape or murder that the victims won't be able to fight back.

Irony? District residents constantly whine about their city's lack of congressional representation, but are simultaneously insistent that they should not be allowed to arm themselves -- although the right of self-defense is, if anything, more fundamental than the right of representative government. Maybe if they were as well-armed as Virginia Democrats, District residents would get more respect from Mr. Webb and his Senate colleagues.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times