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NES Member
By Paul Duggan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 17, 2008; 11:04 AM
In the first hours of the first day that it was legally possible to register handguns in the nation's capital, only one person showed up to do so--and he was turned away because he didn't bring his weapon with him.
This Story
D.C. Tries to Finesse Gun Ruling
First Day For Handgun Registration Gets Little Turnout
Thursday, July 17, Noon ET: Potomac Confidential
Capitol Hill resident Dick A. Heller, whose lawsuit prompted the landmark Supreme Court ruling that scuttled the city's strict firearms control laws, arrived at D.C. police headquarters at 6:30 a.m., 30 minutes before the new gun registration process was scheduled to begin.
Heller, accompanied by his attorney, was met on the steps of the building by a cluster of camera crews and Lt. Jon Shelton, head of the firearms registration unit. In an animated discussion, police explained to Heller that he needed to show officials the guns he wanted to register -- and allow them to be test-fired -- as part of the registration process.
Heller's attorney, Dane von Breichenruchardt, said Heller owns at least two handguns -- a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a 9-shot, .22-caliber revolver -- and has stored them for years with a friend in Maryland. Although officials said that gun owners in Heller's situation can bring legally owned firearms from other jurisdictions into the District in order to register them, the attorney said he had told Heller not to do so without written assurance that it was permissible.
After Assistant Police Chief Peter J. Newsham promised Heller in front of a dozen reporters and news cameras that he would "absolutely not" get in trouble for bringing a revolver into the city, von Breichenruchardt said his client would do so another day. Neither Heller nor his attorney seemed upset by the delay.
"I think what's happened here this morning is a misunderstanding of the law, and that's perfectly understandable," von Breichenruchardt said. "We've got this new law in flux. We've got the old law. It's very difficult to figure out how to even legally bring the handgun into the city so you can apply for the registry."
Newsham amiably agreed. "Firearms registration is a pretty complicated set of rules and regulations, and they can be interpreted by reasonable people in different ways," he said. "I'm sure [Heller is] making his own reasonable interpretation. Our understanding of the rule is that Mr. Heller can legally bring his weapon here." When he does, Newsham added, "we will do the best we can to accommodate him and get him a registration."
But Heller and his lawyer angrily criticized the city over other aspects of the handgun ownership and registration process, outlined in emergency legislation that was approved this week by the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
The new law includes strict storage requirements that opponents of the handgun ban say violate the Supreme Court ruling. Gun owners must keep their pistols at home, unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks. Weapons can only be loaded and used if the owner reasonably believes he or she is in imminent danger from an attacker in the home.
The city also has continued to ban most clip-loaded, semi-automatic handguns -- popular with gun enthusiasts -- by including those weapons in its broadly written ban on machine guns, which was not at issue in the Supreme Court ruling. For Heller, Newsham said, that means his Colt .45 cannot be registered.
"It appears that the city does not yet understand the decision and order of the Supreme Court," said Heller, a 66-year-old a security guard.
Von Breichenruchardt accused D.C. officials of "trying to find as many ways as they can to make the process as difficult and unattractive as they can," and predicted that the machine-gun ban will lead to more litigation. "Mayor Fenty promised us he would follow the letter and spirit of the law. He has done neither."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071700621.html
More.....
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 17, 2008; 11:04 AM
In the first hours of the first day that it was legally possible to register handguns in the nation's capital, only one person showed up to do so--and he was turned away because he didn't bring his weapon with him.
This Story
D.C. Tries to Finesse Gun Ruling
First Day For Handgun Registration Gets Little Turnout
Thursday, July 17, Noon ET: Potomac Confidential
Capitol Hill resident Dick A. Heller, whose lawsuit prompted the landmark Supreme Court ruling that scuttled the city's strict firearms control laws, arrived at D.C. police headquarters at 6:30 a.m., 30 minutes before the new gun registration process was scheduled to begin.
Heller, accompanied by his attorney, was met on the steps of the building by a cluster of camera crews and Lt. Jon Shelton, head of the firearms registration unit. In an animated discussion, police explained to Heller that he needed to show officials the guns he wanted to register -- and allow them to be test-fired -- as part of the registration process.
Heller's attorney, Dane von Breichenruchardt, said Heller owns at least two handguns -- a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and a 9-shot, .22-caliber revolver -- and has stored them for years with a friend in Maryland. Although officials said that gun owners in Heller's situation can bring legally owned firearms from other jurisdictions into the District in order to register them, the attorney said he had told Heller not to do so without written assurance that it was permissible.
After Assistant Police Chief Peter J. Newsham promised Heller in front of a dozen reporters and news cameras that he would "absolutely not" get in trouble for bringing a revolver into the city, von Breichenruchardt said his client would do so another day. Neither Heller nor his attorney seemed upset by the delay.
"I think what's happened here this morning is a misunderstanding of the law, and that's perfectly understandable," von Breichenruchardt said. "We've got this new law in flux. We've got the old law. It's very difficult to figure out how to even legally bring the handgun into the city so you can apply for the registry."
Newsham amiably agreed. "Firearms registration is a pretty complicated set of rules and regulations, and they can be interpreted by reasonable people in different ways," he said. "I'm sure [Heller is] making his own reasonable interpretation. Our understanding of the rule is that Mr. Heller can legally bring his weapon here." When he does, Newsham added, "we will do the best we can to accommodate him and get him a registration."
But Heller and his lawyer angrily criticized the city over other aspects of the handgun ownership and registration process, outlined in emergency legislation that was approved this week by the D.C. Council and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D).
The new law includes strict storage requirements that opponents of the handgun ban say violate the Supreme Court ruling. Gun owners must keep their pistols at home, unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks. Weapons can only be loaded and used if the owner reasonably believes he or she is in imminent danger from an attacker in the home.
The city also has continued to ban most clip-loaded, semi-automatic handguns -- popular with gun enthusiasts -- by including those weapons in its broadly written ban on machine guns, which was not at issue in the Supreme Court ruling. For Heller, Newsham said, that means his Colt .45 cannot be registered.
"It appears that the city does not yet understand the decision and order of the Supreme Court," said Heller, a 66-year-old a security guard.
Von Breichenruchardt accused D.C. officials of "trying to find as many ways as they can to make the process as difficult and unattractive as they can," and predicted that the machine-gun ban will lead to more litigation. "Mayor Fenty promised us he would follow the letter and spirit of the law. He has done neither."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071700621.html
More.....
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