Rowan Pleads Not Guilty in Back-Yard Shooting

Liberal columnist Carl Rowan, calling himself a pawn in the national debate over gun control, pleaded not guilty today to charges of possessing an unregistered gun and ammunition stemming from when he shot a young man who was among a group of people having a pool party behind his home.

Rowan, commenting for the first time since he was charged last Wednesday, said he still favors a national law to control handguns.

Rowan entered his plea before Commissioner Kaye Christian in Washington Superior Court and was released on his own recognizance. A hearing was scheduled for Aug. 25 and a jury trial was set for Sept. 22.

Rowan, 62, a longtime advocate of gun control, shot one of several young intruders in the wrist June 14. The trespassers were swimming uninvited in Rowan’s back yard pool during the early morning.

After today’s 10-minute arraignment in which his attorney entered his not guilty plea, Rowan said he is a “pawn in a brutal game between those who favor and those who oppose handgun control.”

“I want to make it clear that I still favor a strict national law to control the availability of handguns to those who are not law enforcement officers,” Rowan said. “But we do not have such a national law and therefore we must live within the boundaries that exist.

“There is no hypocrisy in advocating a national (gun control) policy, which no one seems to be able to get through Congress, and then living according to the laws and the policies that exist.”

Rowan has said that he got the handgun from his son, a former FBI agent, after receiving death threats and that he did not know the weapon had to be registered with the city.

The wounded intruder, Ben Smith, 18, of suburban Chevy Chase, Md., was shot in the wrist by Rowan, who claimed that the young man lunged at him.

Smith, one of about four people Rowan says were swimming nude, drinking beer and smoking marijuana during their party, has denied that he made a threatening move against Rowan.