D.C. rejects woman’s handgun over color
By: Scott McCabe
March 9, 2009
A D.C. woman claims she was banned from registering her .45-caliber handgun in the District because the weapon was “the wrong color.”
Tracey Ambeau Hanson was one of three city residents who filed a lawsuit against the District on Monday that challenges a city handgun regulation prohibiting handguns not on a list of handguns approved by the state of California.
The trio is being represented by Alan Gura, the Alexandria attorney who successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the District’s 32-year ban on handguns.
According to Gura, the District bases its list of approved handguns on the California Roster of Handguns Certified for Sale. Hanson’s Springfield XD-45 was on the government’s approved roster of guns, but hers was black and silver, the attorney said.
The law only permits that Springfield model if it’s one of the approved colors: black, green or brown, Gura said. "[H]er bitone version is supposedly 'unsafe.’ ”
Hanson said she just wants be able to own a handgun without interference from the D.C. government.
"Do we really need a gun-fashion police?” she asked.
District officials did not immediately respond Monday to requests for comment.
Another plaintiff had her gun application denied because its manufacturer had not paid a fee to California to keep the gun on the California gun roster.
In June, the Supreme Court tossed the District’s ban on handguns, holding for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to self-defense and gun ownership.
In the wake of that ruling, the District enacted new regulations for gun ownership. The District requires firearms owners to renew their registrations every three years, take a safety course and undergo a background check every six years.
