New D.C. Gun Restrictions Unveiled

[Tejas]

http://www.nbc4.com/politics/16876021/detail.html?rss=dc&psp=news



New D.C. Gun Restrictions Unveiled

POSTED: 10:00 am EDT July 14, 2008
UPDATED: 5:50 pm EDT July 14, 2008


WASHINGTON -- The D.C. Council is set to vote Tuesday on emergency legislation unveiled Monday that imposes strict controls on handguns and rules for registering firearms in the District.

-snip-


Police will require ballistic testing on handguns before they are registered to see if the weapon was stolen or used in a crime, officials said.


-snip-



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."

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Wonder if this testing will be required on a new firearm?


eta: Guess who that FFL is?

Can you imagine the look on Sugerman's face when FedEx and UPS and the USPS all show up with 100's of packages?

Wonder how big his gunsafe is?


per ATF regs, HE DOES HAVE A GUNSAFE EH?


:rofl:






eta: oops, forgot the link!

[Hydra]

1. I bet it will be required for new guns

So that they can get a ballistic profile in case a crime is committed with it.

I wonder if they would have to verify if you still have the firearm before they arrest you if they find bullets matching your gun...

[Tejas]

5. Well, that shoots collectors in the foot

Not a "new" gun anymore. Granted, probably test fired at the factory but letting the local LEO's play with it?

"Sorry about the scratches"

[Callisto32]

18. I sure hope it was test fired!

...."sorry about the kaboom."

Hey, it could happen. O8)

[SteveM]

2. Do you have a link? Thanks.(nt)

[Tejas]

3. oops! (fixed) n/t

[jody]

4. Do they require a DNA sample to see whether the applicant's DNA matches that of any unsolved crime?

It will be interesting to watch D.C. try to pass laws that push the Heller decision as far as possible, see:
QUOTE
2. Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.
It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any
manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed
weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment
or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast
doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by
felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms
in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or
laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of
arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those
“in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition
of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.
Pp. 54–56.
UNQUOTE

[Tejas]

8. What is your take on

how the Circuit Court of Appeals will react to this? My guess is that Fenty had them past the irritated stage long ago.

[jody]

9. I don’t know about Fenty but Silberman and Griffith for the D.C. Court of Appeals said with

Henderson dissenting, see http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200703/04-7041a.pdf

Finally, there is the District’s requirement under D.C. Code
§ 7-2507.02 that a registered firearm be kept “unloaded and
disassembled or bound by trigger lock or similar device, unless
such firearm is kept at {a} place of business, or while being used
for lawful recreational purposes within the District of
Columbia.” This provision bars Heller from lawfully using a
handgun for self protection in the home because the statute
allows only for use of a firearm during recreational activities.
As appellants accurately point out, § 7-2507.02 would reduce a
pistol to a useless hunk of “metal and springs.” Heller does not
appear to challenge the requirement that a gun ordinarily be kept
unloaded or even that a trigger lock be attached under some
circumstances. He simply contends that he is entitled to the
possession of a “functional” firearm to be employed in case of
a threat to life or limb. The District responds that,
notwithstanding the broad language of the Code, a judge would
likely give the statute a narrowing construction when confronted
with a self-defense justification. That might be so, but judicial
lenity cannot make up for the unreasonable restriction of a
constitutional right. Section 7-2507.02, like the bar on carrying
a pistol within the home, amounts to a complete prohibition on
the lawful use of handguns for self-defense. As such, we hold
it unconstitutional.

IMO given the historic nature of Heller and SCOTUS affirming the Circuit Court of Appeals’ reversal of the lower court’ decision, I don’t expect the D.C. Court of Appeals will look very favorably upon attempts by Fenty and cronies to ignore the SCOTUS decision.

[Tejas]

6. Oh to see the look on Sugerman's face when he HAS to transfer an UZI pistol

:rofl:

[jody]

7. The bill could be # PR17-0927, text unavailable.

# PR17-0927 "SENSE OF THE COUNCIL ON FUTURE HANDGUN REGULATIONS RESOLUTION OF 2008".
http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/lims/billrecord.asp?billid=checked

[MicaelS]

10. Wait a minute....

residents who wish to purchase handguns will initially have to travel to shops elsewhere, such as Maryland or Virginia.

Doesn't that violate the regulation about only purchasing a gun in your state of residence? :wtf:

[pipoman]

12. Not if it is shipped to a gun shop in your state as it says in the article. n/t

[Tejas]

11. still bans semi-autos?

"MPD will allow the registration of previously possessed handguns other than those that qualify as “machine guns” under District law (that is, all automatics and most semiautomatic pistols) for the next six months. During that period, the Office of the Attorney General has established an Amnesty policy not to prosecute anyone for unregistered possession of such a handgun when it is brought to MPD for registration, although those who have committed other crimes with firearms of course remain subject to prosecution."


That's what it looks like to me.

[spin]

13. "A model for the nation"...

"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.
(From the link in the OP)
http://www.nbc4.com/politics/16876021/detail.html?rss=d...

Give me a break!

[tburnsten]

14. "ballistic fingerprinting" is a load of crap

It doesn't work at all, even with a database they still can't recover enough of the bullet much of the time to discover anything meaningful. They often can't even tell the difference between .38 and 9mm bullets pulled from the same body.

D.C. is ridiculous, and Josh Sugarman is a scumbag. AGitating for gun bans his whole career and now he is the only FFL in D.C. allowed to transfer firearms. What about the theater companies, they have FFLs, can't they sell and transfer guns as well?

[Endangered Specie]

15. especially if the bullet is a JHP...

that and one could always scratch up or allow the barrel to corrode

[tburnsten]

16. This is from someone working a forensic case-

"The victim was shot four times. The weapons used were a 38sp and 9mm. Her client claims to have pulled the trigger on the 9mm, and that the other BG did the up close execution style shooting with the 38. The weapons were never recovered.

As I told her, there was no good news for her client. I was able, using the autopsy report and photos of both the body and crime scene, to prove that the first, second, and fourth shots came from the same weapon. (There was not enough left of the bullets to positively identify them as coming from any specific weapon and the report stated that it was impossible to determine which bullets were 38 and which were 9mm."

and this-
"As far as bullet data bases go, they are nice when you actually get a slug that can be identified. However, unlike television shows like CSI, most bullets that are pulled out of bodies are too far gone for completely accurate ballistics matching. I won't even get into why ballistic fingerprinting is one of the most asinine things that Brady Bunch has backed in recent years. Let's stick to the facts of real criminal investigation, not flights of fantasy. If you have a good bullet recovered from a body (not the most likely scenario when lead starts rebounding off of bones and other structures inside the human body) and you have found the weapon, and can positively link that weapon to the suspect, you still have to prove that he/she actually pulled the trigger."

If anyone wants to read the whole thread, PM me and I will send a link. It is from a firearms site so I will certainly be browbeat over it, but whatever.

[kudzu22]

17. Their attitude

Their attitude seems to be like that of the white segregationists after Brown v. Board of Education, e.g. "Ok, we'll let them in the school building, but they still can't have any books or go into any white-only classrooms"

DC needs a good smackdown from the court.