In a society built on the twin pillars of free speech and free enterprise, the burden of proof for restricting those freedoms rests on the advocates of those restrictions. DCRA has not even begun to meet that stringent test. DCRA is setting itself up as the moral arbiter of the District of Columbia and the keeper of the morals of our citizens. But only zoos and institutions need keepers. It is an insult to the free citizens of the District for our own government to act as our lord and master.
Government is supposed to be the servant of free citizens.
Since businesses come and go, eventually the availability of adult videos in the District would be seriously curtailed. We saw this happen with arbitrary legislative restrictions against new bars that wanted to offer nude dancing, and we are not about to let this mistake be casually repeated. Let the customers decide not the bureaucrats. DCRA remains a notoriously dysfunctional agency. It continues to neglect its basic responsibilities to protect the public health and safety, in large part because it does not have enough inspectors and other staff to make even the legislatively-mandated minimum number of inspections each year.