The U.S. Supreme Court has still not decided whether to hear the District’s appeal to reinstate its 31-year-old gun ban, which was overturned by a three-judge panel in March on grounds it violated the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, the ban remains in effect until the high court acts, so D.C. residents will continue to fall victim to gun-toting criminals who find them easy prey.

After a four-year decline, homicides in D.C. are again on the rise. At 169, this year’s body count has already equaled all of 2006 and, with six weeks left to the year, will almost certainly surpass that mark. The gun ban was supposed to prevent such carnage by making the possession of firearms illegal — even for self-defense. In reality, it has done little more than render law-abiding residents completely defenseless.

City officials like D.C. Attorney General Linda Singer, who said that upholding the gun ban was “a matter of life and death,” have yet to explain why the percentage of homicides involving a firearm is much higher now (81 percent) than before the gun ban was passed in 1976 (63 percent). Washingtonians have gained no additional personal security in return for being denied their constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Not only are they more likely to be gunned down now than before the gun ban went into effect, they are much safer in neighboring jurisdictions that permit an armed citizenry. And since more than half of the homicides in D.C. this year occurred in poor neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, the gun ban disproportionately affects low-income families who cannot afford to move to safer neighborhoods. All the politically correct rhetoric in the world won’t change that fact.

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s All Hands on Deck initiative beefed up street and foot patrols in neighborhoods with the worst violence but has made no dent in the homicide rate. After 14 homicides in 11 days, police officers grumbled that Lanier’s mini-surges on weekends left the force shorthanded the rest of the week. Homicides have increased 10 percent over the same time last year, so the officers may be right. However, it would take hundreds more cops on patrol to counteract the devastating effects of one gun ban, especially in areas now ruled by armed thugs who know they have the upper hand, at least until the Supreme Court renders a decision.