District’s gun regulations officially in place, but for how long?
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
June 8, 2009
The District’s permanent handgun regulations that took effect Friday could be obliterated by Congress or the federal courts in less time than it took to write them.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the city’s 30-year-old handgun ban as unconstitutional last June. The city has been operating under emergency and proposed gun rules since Jan. 16., but those rules became permanent Friday.
Despite strong opposition from gun rights advocates, the Metropolitan Police Department reported in Friday’s D.C. Register that no comments were received since January.
District leaders believe they have met the Supreme Court’s directive, that the Second Amendment guarantees D.C. residents the right to keep a handgun in the home for self-defense. But the city’s fledgling laws are being challenged on two fronts.
Dick Anthony Heller, the plaintiff in the original lawsuit, is suing again over the city’s “onerous firearm registration, expiration and re-registration requirements” and its continuing prohibition of “commonly possessed” firearms and magazines.
Registration requirements include five hours of certified training, ballistic testing, numerous fees and a maze of bureaucratic hurdles.
“What we’re trying to do with the lawsuit is invalidate them as soon as possible through the court system,” Richard Gardiner, Heller’s lawyer, said of the regulations.
U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina, however, has yet to issue a schedule for Heller’s case to proceed.
“If there are specific ways we can streamline the process I think we should, but I think the law is viable,” said at-large D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson, chairman of the judiciary committee.
If the lawsuit doesn’t force a regulatory rewrite, Congress might.
The D.C. voting rights bill adopted by the U.S. Senate includes an amendment offered by Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada that repeals the city’s ban on semiautomatic weapons, repeals all registration requirements, removes criminal penalties for the possession of unregistered firearms and legalizes carrying a gun on the streets.
“I am hopeful that the Ensign amendment will not pass,” Mendelson said. “It would be a serious blow to public safety.”
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has vowed to move the voting rights act forward, perhaps forcing the District to sacrifice its gun laws in return for a fully empowered member of the House of Representatives. A Hoyer spokeswoman said Friday the legislation “remains an important priority.”
Among the registration requirements:
» Taking five hours of certified firearms training, including one hour at a range
» Passing a firearms test
» Providing proof of good vision
» Undergoing background checks (not instant)
» Getting fingerprinted
