No REAL Change for DC Gun Laws


gordo

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DC to vote on gun bill prompted by court ruling By BRIAN WESTLEY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 14, 7:19 PM ET



The District of Columbia Council planned to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation to allow handguns if they are used only for self-defense in the home and carry fewer than 12 rounds of ammunition.

The legislation announced Monday comes as officials scramble to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month striking down the city's 32-year-old ban.

The proposal, which maintains some of the city's strict gun ownership rules and adds more regulations, was immediately criticized by gun rights advocates threatening more legal action.

The nation's capital would still require all legal firearms — including handguns, rifles and shotguns — to be kept in the home unloaded and disassembled, or equipped with trigger locks. There would be an exception for guns used against the "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."

The proposed legislation also maintains the city's unusual ban of machine guns, defined as weapons that shoot at least 12 rounds without reloading. That applies to most semiautomatic firearms.

"We have crafted what I believe to be a model for the nation in terms of complying with the Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision and at the same time protecting our citizens," interim Attorney General Peter Nickles said.

The National Rifle Association strongly disagreed.

"Clearly, D.C. is doing everything they can to ignore the Supreme Court ruling," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist. He said the organization would pursue legal or legislative action to thwart the city's efforts.

The legislation also would require a ballistics test to determine if a handgun is stolen or has been used in a crime. Police Chief Cathy Lanier will limit registration to one handgun per person for the first 90 days to make sure as many people are served as possible. And those who wish to register a handgun must pass written and vision tests.

Residents who already own handguns will be granted six months of amnesty to legally register their weapons, officials said.

The emergency legislation, which has strong support from the council, will remain in effect for 90 days. It adopts many of the regulations proposed earlier this month by D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson.

Mendelson, who is chairman of the committee on public safety and the judiciary, said the council would hold a hearing in September on permanent regulations.

D.C. officials anticipate more legal challenges as they try to maintain the strictest gun regulations possible under the law.

Critics were frustrated that the city plans to keep its ban on firearms capable of carrying 12 rounds or more. Alan Gura, the lawyer who successfully argued against D.C.'s handgun ban before the Supreme Court, has said such a restriction "almost certainly will be challenged."

The NRA's Cox also derided the trigger-lock requirement. "Unless a criminal is calling you before they break into your house, you're going to be left in the same position you were prior to the (Supreme Court) case," he said.

Because the district has no licensed gun shops, residents who wish to purchase handguns will initially have to travel to shops elsewhere, such as Maryland or Virginia. They would have to present the shop with a certified police form authorizing the dealer to ship the weapon to a federally licensed gun dealer in Washington, where the buyer would pick it up.

There is currently only one licensed firearms dealer in D.C. who can handle such a transaction, said Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the Washington field division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"That's a lot to ask one person to do," Campbell said. "He's going to be inundated at the very beginning, I would imagine."
 

I am pretty sure it is to much to hope for, but maybe some council members actually read the decision and Judge Scalia's
Opinion of the Court.
 
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The nation's capital would still require all legal firearms — including handguns, rifles and shotguns — to be kept in the home unloaded and disassembled, or equipped with trigger locks. There would be an exception for guns used against the "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."

WTF ????????

Living IN DC to me is "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."

Homeowner: "Hold on Mr robber, let me go get my firearm, unlock it, load it, and then defend myself, OK ? "

I wonder if the official idiots that runs DC keep their firearms locked, unloaded and/or disassembled ... ?
 
We all knew it would go this way. The DC antis will try everything they can to limit the scope of the Heller decision. All of the finer points are going to have to be challenged.

It would seem clear to me that in Scalia's opinion the issue of the trigger locks and having a fully assembled and operational firearm was clearly dealt with. Why would we think that anything would be clear to the likes of Fenty and Lanier.
 
You got to be kidding me!

"We have crafted what I believe to be a model for the nation in terms of complying with the Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision and at the same time protecting our citizens," interim Attorney General Peter Nickles said.

Ya you crafted a great plan Mr Interim Attorney General. Lets take a look at it.
1. I have to travel out of the area with a certified police form to purchase the weapon.
2. Have it shipped back to 1 dealer in DC to pick it up
3. But it can not be 12 rounds or more (cause that makes it a machine gun)
4. Then I have to register it which requires a written test, vision test, and ballistics tests.
5. At which point I am now legal but have to keep the gun unloaded and disassembled/trigger lock.
6. Then to top it off if I'd like to by a second pistol I have to wait 90 days

Mr Nickles hate to tell you this but there is already a great model for the nation..... Its called the Second Amendment and nowhere does it say anything about the restriction the great minds of DC came up with.
 
We all knew it would go this way. The DC antis will try everything they can to limit the scope of the Heller decision. All of the finer points are going to have to be challenged.

It would seem clear to me that in Scalia's opinion the issue of the trigger locks and having a fully assembled and operational firearm was clearly dealt with. Why would we think that anything would be clear to the likes of Fenty and Lanier.
As one could have expected. They create yet another set of odious regulation that must now be challenged in court. They will lose on this, and they know they will, but it will take another 5 years or more. Then they will create another set of regulations and the cycle begins anew.This is just the blueprint for more and more restrictive regulations.

The only solution, at least in the case of DC, is for Congress to step in. There is legislation introduced that will put an end to this nonsense but its proposed by Republicans and the Democrats have the votes to defeat it --- assuming the Democrats ever let it out of committee.

Lesson to be taken from all of this: ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Remember this when you go to the polls.
 
ok so all of my guns except for my 45 and my nagant are machine guns.. including my ruger 10/22 with 25 round mag.. and having to pass a vision test to get it registered.. I have an eye condition.. I would be screwed.. that is called discrimination in my book.
 
I never expected to see any noticable changes in DC. The only way that there will be change is a massive turn out on election day and clean the house from top to bottom. If that does not work, then there will have to be a massive display, over an extended time period, of displeasure by the citizens/voters. There is no way that I would keep my firearm disassembled or locked in my own house. That would be ridiculous. They can take their model laws and put them where the sun don't shine. It is high time for them to bring their definitions in conformance with realistic definitions. There is no way that a firearm capable of fireing twelve or more rounds is a machine gun. That definition alone is a direct infrimgement of 2nd Amendment rights and should not be allowed to stand!
 
Nobody believed me when I insisted that, despite the Supreme Court ruling, that D.C. would continue to have America' s worst gun laws, but as it turns out, I was right. Written and vision tests to register handguns (I can imagine what kinds of questions would be on these tests)? A 12-round limit? Requiring firearms to be disassembled or fitted with a trigger lock (didn't the Supreme Court also strike down that portion of D.C.'s law?)? But things are getting better right?

As far as I can tell, the only thing that changed is that D.C. residents can now legally own handguns, but only if they are registered and if they pass written and vision tests. This is asinine!
 

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