U.S. District Court throws out handgun ban in DC.

[cstone]

DC's a special circumstance in that most of its workers live outside the District and a lot of people cross the District's lines daily for social purposes. I'm not sure the injunction would have much bearing for a Coloradan visiting New York or Illinois.

As much as the people of the District would like to imply that they are a special circumstance, I disagree.

DC has tried numerous times to impose a commuter tax on workers in DC. Congress has not allowed that to happen for obvious reasons. NYC on the other hand levies a commuter tax on all of the workers who live in NJ and the surrounding counties in NY state. If it wasn't for the negative affect on business, I suspect there are progressive politicians in Denver who would love to impose the same type of tax on commuters from surrounding counties in the metro area.

Lots of tourists from around the nation travel to and through both DC and NYC. IMO, if my CO driver's license is good enough to let me drive my 2000 pound, motorized death machine in both jurisdictions, then my CO CCW should be sufficient for me to legally possess and carry my 32 oz. pistol. The District Court basically ruled that since DC denied anyone who is a non-resident the ability to carry in DC, the practice was an unconstitutional ban on the right to bear arms. The ball is back in DC's court, so to speak. The City Council needs to come up with an acceptable form of allowing non-residents to carry in DC. I anxiously await their response. Past history of watching the DC City Council has often left me scratching my rapidly balding head.

[rondog]

I thought it was illegal in DC to even OWN a handgun, let alone get a CCW permit? And what about ammo - don't they have some bullshit law about all ammo and components have to be registered or some such shit? Seems like there was a recent case where some poor bastard was being crucified for having an empty shotgun shell or something.

[Gman]

Score one for the people.

[cstone]

I thought it was illegal in DC to even OWN a handgun, let alone get a CCW permit? And what about ammo - don't they have some bullshit law about all ammo and components have to be registered or some such shit? Seems like there was a recent case where some poor bastard was being crucified for having an empty shotgun shell or something.

The Heller decision forced DC to establish provisions for DC residents to apply for a permit to own and keep a firearm in their home. Along with that process, the registered owner was required to register any ammunition they intended to keep with the firearm. No one, outside of military, LEO was legally allowed to have their firearm outside of their house until this injunction issued today.

I know there was a provision in the DC Code for transport of a newly purchased firearm to and from the residence for training or service, but I don't know the specifics. Also, there is only one registered FFL in DC. If a DC resident made it through the process to register a firearm for their home, they would have to have the firearm shipped to this one FFL (who I believed had an office in the Wilson Building). I imagine his transfer fees were pretty steep and his books would be easily accessible to anyone in the DC government. Almost two years after Heller and the number of registered firearms owners in DC was under 50,000 out of about 650,000 residents. Here is a fairly recent story about the re-registration requirements for gun owners in DC http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/...ster-firearms/

Another interesting story about gun registration in DC and how it affects different citizens http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020706450.html

[rondog]

Huh. I "think" the first place I ever saw full-autos and suppressors for sale was in a little gun shop/used car dealership in Fairfax, VA, almost right across the river from DC. I remember when I opened the door to the place, there was an M2HB on a tripod right inside staring me in the face.

[Big E3]

As much as the people of the District would like to imply that they are a special circumstance, I disagree.

DC has tried numerous times to impose a commuter tax on workers in DC. Congress has not allowed that to happen for obvious reasons. NYC on the other hand levies a commuter tax on all of the workers who live in NJ and the surrounding counties in NY state. If it wasn't for the negative affect on business, I suspect there are progressive politicians in Denver who would love to impose the same type of tax on commuters from surrounding counties in the metro area.

Without calling it a commuter tax, Denver did figure out a way to get similar tax, they just tax everybody who works in Denver monthly regardless of where they live. It's called the Denver Occupational Privilege Tax (DOPT). Who would have thought of that, an extra tax just because you work in Denver, oh wait, I forgot Denver has been run by democrats for a while now.

[hurley842002]

Without calling it a commuter tax, Denver did figure out a way to get similar tax, they just tax everybody who works in Denver monthly regardless of where they live. It's called the Denver Occupational Privilege Tax (DOPT). Who would have thought of that, an extra tax just because you work in Denver, oh wait, I forgot Denver has been run by democrats for a while now.

Yup, I have the "privilege" of paying $5 a month to work in Denver. That equates to roughly $550 since I've worked there.

[cstone]

Huh. I "think" the first place I ever saw full-autos and suppressors for sale was in a little gun shop/used car dealership in Fairfax, VA, almost right across the river from DC. I remember when I opened the door to the place, there was an M2HB on a tripod right inside staring me in the face.

The entire time I worked in the District, every politician blamed the violent crime rate on the ease of access to guns in Virginia. The ease of access was through B&Es in neighborhoods where no one was home all day. Besides the terrible press, most of the murders in the early 90's were seen as low priority cases. They either shot each other or ended up in Lorton. The first option was much better for the bottom line.

The other common line that ran every night on the TV was that the crack war was fueled by the white privileged suburban kids driving into the District to score some rock. Just not true. If the kids in the suburbs wanted rock, it was delivered to the burbs. Now hookers...everyone seemed to drive into the District for the variety that only an International Capitol can offer

[cstone]

Without calling it a commuter tax, Denver did figure out a way to get similar tax, they just tax everybody who works in Denver monthly regardless of where they live. It's called the Denver Occupational Privilege Tax (DOPT). Who would have thought of that, an extra tax just because you work in Denver, oh wait, I forgot Denver has been run by democrats for a while now.

I didn't know that. Learn something everyday. Thanks.

Because DC couldn't get a commuter tax, they would just write parking tickets on non-DC tags...even if they were legally parked.

[KevDen2005]

I didn't know that. Learn something everyday. Thanks.

Because DC couldn't get a commuter tax, they would just write parking tickets on non-DC tags...even if they were legally parked.

Yep, happened to me on numerous occasions.

I am always interested in a DC story like this for similar reason you are.