Local
District targets spots to establish gun stores
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
January 2, 2009
The District will allow gun stores along major commercial corridors in every corner of the city, under new rules recently adopted by the D.C. Zoning Commission.
Emergency regulations issued by the commission allow gun stores to open along most commercial corridors not zoned for neighborhood retail, throughout much of downtown and in a handful of industrial zones. But because each store must be at least 300 feet away from the nearest school, library, home, playground and church, the number of specific possible locations is very limited.
The rules are far less restrictive than those adopted in July — a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the District’s 32-year-old handgun ban.
The earlier regulations limited retailers to downtown, set a 600-foot buffer and required that gun store applicants obtain a special zoning exception.
The District is having to “turn our laws and zoning laws into pretzels” to accommodate the court’s “flawed” ruling, Ward 6 D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells said this week. The council adopted new gun storage and registration laws last month.
“I’d rather not have any gun stores in our city, including my ward,” Wells said. “I want to be sure that the stores use every safety caution against break-ins or anything else.”
In Ward 8, thanks to the 300-foot buffer, the only viable locations for gun stores are near Blue Plains deep in Southwest, at Suitland Parkway and Interstate 295, and in historic Anacostia off Shannon Place, according to a report from the D.C. planning office. A large chunk of Southwest between Independence Avenue and Interstate 395 is fair game, as is the New York Avenue corridor from Florida Avenue almost to the Maryland line.
There’s also a tiny plot along Connecticut Avenue NW in Van Ness, a cluster of parcels off Wisconsin Avenue just north of McLean Gardens, another plot off Wisconsin near Observatory Circle, and a small piece of M Street in Georgetown, again near Wisconsin Avenue. Downtown, between Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street as far west as 20th Street also is available for potential gun store business — though either side of 16th Street is off-limits.
The image of gun stores on major commercial corridors is “deeply distressing to me,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh.
“I’m just greatly saddened to think of the specter of gun stores popping up along Wisconsin Avenue and Connecticut Avenue,” Cheh said. “But I assume they’ll have to comply with all laws and regulations to maintain the guns in a safe manner.”
The District has only one registered gun dealer, Charles Sykes, and he doesn’t do retail, only out-of-state transfers.
The emergency rules last 120 days and expire March 20. The zoning commission wants to hold another public hearing before adopting them permanently.
Emergency regulations issued by the commission allow gun stores to open along most commercial corridors not zoned for neighborhood retail, throughout much of downtown and in a handful of industrial zones. But because each store must be at least 300 feet away from the nearest school, library, home, playground and church, the number of specific possible locations is very limited.
The rules are far less restrictive than those adopted in July — a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the District’s 32-year-old handgun ban.
The earlier regulations limited retailers to downtown, set a 600-foot buffer and required that gun store applicants obtain a special zoning exception.
The District is having to “turn our laws and zoning laws into pretzels” to accommodate the court’s “flawed” ruling, Ward 6 D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells said this week. The council adopted new gun storage and registration laws last month.
“I’d rather not have any gun stores in our city, including my ward,” Wells said. “I want to be sure that the stores use every safety caution against break-ins or anything else.”
In Ward 8, thanks to the 300-foot buffer, the only viable locations for gun stores are near Blue Plains deep in Southwest, at Suitland Parkway and Interstate 295, and in historic Anacostia off Shannon Place, according to a report from the D.C. planning office. A large chunk of Southwest between Independence Avenue and Interstate 395 is fair game, as is the New York Avenue corridor from Florida Avenue almost to the Maryland line.
There’s also a tiny plot along Connecticut Avenue NW in Van Ness, a cluster of parcels off Wisconsin Avenue just north of McLean Gardens, another plot off Wisconsin near Observatory Circle, and a small piece of M Street in Georgetown, again near Wisconsin Avenue. Downtown, between Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street as far west as 20th Street also is available for potential gun store business — though either side of 16th Street is off-limits.
The image of gun stores on major commercial corridors is “deeply distressing to me,” said Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh.
“I’m just greatly saddened to think of the specter of gun stores popping up along Wisconsin Avenue and Connecticut Avenue,” Cheh said. “But I assume they’ll have to comply with all laws and regulations to maintain the guns in a safe manner.”
The District has only one registered gun dealer, Charles Sykes, and he doesn’t do retail, only out-of-state transfers.
The emergency rules last 120 days and expire March 20. The zoning commission wants to hold another public hearing before adopting them permanently.
