Will D.C. Respect the Constitution ??

THE WASHINGTON TIMES
By Emily Miller

The District took a big step on Tuesday toward bringing its gun laws
in line with the rest of America. While an oppressive registration
requirement remains in place, the D.C. Council voted unanimously
to make the overall process of becoming a handgun owner
significantly less expensive and time-consuming for residents.

“I’m glad we were able to streamline some of the provisions
because the law should not be unnecessarily burdensome,”
Judiciary Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson told The Washington Times on Tuesday.

Asked whether there could be more changes in the future, the at-large
Democrat said the laws are “a work in progress” as officials figure
out the best way to comply with the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that
struck down the city’s 30-year handgun ban. “As we’ve seen, how
this has been implemented since the changes in the Heller decision,
we’ve learned where there’s some unnecessary hurdles and things
that take too long,” Mr. Mendelson said.

The biggest hurdle, a five-hour training mandate, is gone.
So too are ballistics testing, vision testing and the requirement that
application documents be notarized. The Metropolitan Police Department
(MPD) will take photographs of applicants. Registered gun owners
will no longer be subject to arrest if they possess the wrong type
of ordinary ammunition.

The mayor will become a gun dealer if the city’s only federal
firearms licensee goes out of business. The 10-day waiting period
will start from the date the gun is purchased, rather than the date
of the application. Finally, the three-year reregistration and
microstamping requirements are both delayed until 2014.

Normally, Congress has 60 days to review changes to D.C. criminal law,
which would delay this measure’s effective date until November.
To speed things, Mr. Mendelson put through an emergency bill so
many of the changes can be implemented immediately. While the
permanent bill winds its way through the regular process, the process
of easing restrictions begins as soon as the mayor signs the ordinance.

Some parts of the law are postponed for two months to give MPD
more time to implement. To avoid paying more than $200 and
wasting a workday on a gun-ownership course, residents should wait
until July 1 to start the registration process. By then, the police will
have prepared a training video to replace the class.

A spokesman for MPD explained that the agency had to delay
elimination of the vision test so it could find a way for someone
without a driver’s license to prove he’s not legally blind. The police
also will work with the FBI to set up a system to save applicant
fingerprints so gun owners don’t have to return to the registry
office every six years for a new background check.

The Washington Times’ series “Emily Gets Her Gun” meticulously
documented each of these barriers to gun ownership designed make
it prohibitively expensive to bring legal firearms into the District.
The series won’t end with merely allowing residents to keep arms
locked up in their homes. The Second Amendment also recognizes
the right of the people to bear arms.

Although the District’s latest changes are surprisingly generous,
registration is pointless and should go. If the nation’s capital wants
to be considered an equal with the other states, it ought to start
with allowing open and concealed carry.

Emily Miller is a senior editor for the Opinion pages
at The Washington Times.

[All emfasis has been added by David.]