Don’t forget what to me seems to be the biggest gotcha - DC won’t do the background check and tell you whether or not you’ve passed until you’ve actually paid for the firearm and it’s waiting for you at the solitary DC dealer. And if you fail - good luck getting your money back from the original out of district seller.
I think DC is sandbagging the Supreme Court decision by making legal gun ownership far harder than is reasonable. It’s pretty hard to argue otherwise.
However, the author of these articles – how shall I say it – seems to accentuate her inability to follow any direction for the obvious goal of making the process seem even more laborious. For example, when given the list of approved firearms safety courses, she returns to a police officer and asks him to tell her which one she should go to.
You have the list, miss. Make some phone calls or pick a friggin’ name. Is this how she would approach other tasks in life? She sees real estate listing on the Internet and then inquires with DC’s land surveyors hoping that they will specifically direct her on which house to buy?
And then the bit about how she was scared that one of the firearms instructors might be armed and want to meet her in a place she has never been before, making it out like she is risking assault or robbery by making an appointment with a government-approved firearms instructor… give me a break.
Interesting! I must have missed that bit.
Yea, after the build-up, I was actually kind of underwelmed. No doubt DC is trying to make buying guns a hassle, but honestly I’ve had more trouble navigating bureaucracies that in theory wanted to help me. The actual process seems to have followed the list they gave her at the beginning. There was none of the “bait and switch” type things that I find worst about the most nightmarish bureaucracies, or crazy fees tacked on at the last minute.
And while they could streamline it more, I don’t really have a problem with the actual requirements. A few hours of firearm safety doesn’t seem unreasonable, nor does a waiting period. She contrasts her experience unfavorably to her boss who buys a gun online, but of course the boss already has a concealed weapons permit, which in VA also requires the applicant to take a course, pass a background check and file paperwork. The only thing that seemed really was having to have the gun shipped to the one authorized dealer.
I’ve had more trouble trying to get Microsoft to replace an red-ringed X-Box or Comcast to put in a goddamn internet connection.
Obviously, if DC wants to really prevent gun-ownership, they need to find the guy who runs the Verizon call-center I had to deal with the other day and have him set up the registration process.
It’s from the Jan 24 article:
Now it may be that she’s just doing things in the order that’s on the list, and it is possible to go through the registration/background check first. But in that case, I’d expect Sykes, the only licensed dealer in DC, to have told her that - it’s got to be a pain in his ass when he’s got a gun that he has to send back to the original seller.
Aha! I indeed missed that one, thanks.
It IS a Kafkaesque nightmare, considering that the process for most states takes about 6-8 minutes, with another half-hour to decide on the weapon you want. This process should be the very definition of bureaucratic obstruction, and things like this are why gun owners fight regulations.
Maintaining a well armed militia?
Would you expect anything less from the yellow press?
I think the word you are looking for is well-regulated militia.
Yes. Thanks
If you think that’s a Kafkaesque nightmare, I have stories about ordering from Amazon that will chill you to the bone and turn your hair white.
Aside from the fact that it’s “well-regulated”, that argument is dead. Why people keep trying to resurrect it is beyond me.
Does anyone living in DC, actually read the Washington Times? Most people I know read the Post, and the City Paper.
Yes, the process seems like a pain in the ass, but then again, any dealings with DC bureaucracy will be difficult. Hell, try getting a building permit in DC sometime. Or worse, try to opening a restaurant and getting a liquor license in DC. If DC really wanted to make the process byzantine and kafkaesque, they would give the DCRA jurisdiction over the whole process.
She does seem to go out of her way to make things difficult. Her entire article about finding the right instruction course. I did a google search and found a few hits in minutes. She didn’t even pick a gun until January 17th.
I just read the article. Here is her list of what she needs to do.
You fill in a form, take a class, take a test on the class you took, pass a vision test, prove your residency in DC, and wait for the dealer to do his part, have the gun, and take to a ballistics test with the police department.
She lives in DC. Its a bureaucratic ordeal trying to get your car inspected or trying to get your tax bill straighten out. From her list I would say getting a gun in DC is easier than getting a driver’s license. Seriously, she lists “buy the gun” as one of the arduous steps in obtaining a gun? Why didn’t she list “earn the money” too?
The article for today describes some upcoming law changes for the area. It looks like they are streamlining the system while standards remain close to what they were before. A good move in my opinion. (This article is particularly badly written, by the way.)(MILLER: I will testify before D.C. city council about guns - Washington Times)
Out of interest, what is the Illegal gun situation like in DC? are they common? My only recollection of DC crime was an old John Grisham thriller.
That it is a constitutional right does not necessarily mean that it should be easy to aquire.
A welcome move agreed. I do wonder if Ms. Miller’s blog itself brought enough attention to DC’s registration labrynth to create support for the changes.
In 2010, the last year for which data has been tabulated, D.C. had the highest rate of homicide in the Union, greater than 20 per 100,000 persons. Exactly 75% were performed with firearms. Although no lawful gun owners committed any criminal homicides, there is no specific data about justifiable homicides committed by private gun owners. You should consult the FBI’s UCR.