Posted on 02/01/2012 1:06:33 PM PST by marktwain
Owning a gun in the District of Columbia can be dangerous, because the city’s hastily drafted rules are putting the innocent in jeopardy. A gun owner who has cleared the District’s 17 registration hurdles still isn’t home free.
To continue exercising the Second Amendment right to keep arms, individuals have to renew registration certificates every three years and show up at the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) every six years to be fingerprinted. The citizen is responsible for the fees in each case.
The city council hastily drafted these requirements after the Supreme Court smacked down D.C.’s handgun ban in the 2008 Heller decision. The laws are proving to be so badly written that even the city can’t enforce them.
Anyone who registered a new pistol or owned a long gun prior to March 31, 2009, was supposed to receive an expiration notice from the police by the end of 2011 and submit a request for renewal by Jan. 31. This apparently did not happen.
The law says gun owners must resubmit their address, information on each firearm and confirmation that they are complying with all aspects of the regulations. The MPD’s registration office lacks a modern database system that can stay updated on the status of certification. That means gun owners who were never notified may inadvertently be breaking the law.
At a hearing Monday, Councilman Phil Mendelson proposed a slight change in the law to make it clear the re-registration process doesn’t require taking the 20-question written test again. The Democrat at-Large would still keep the rest of the requirements in place.
The District’s top cop insisted the burden for these checks should not fall on the citizens. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said MPD would need a new and expensive database system similar to that used to track
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
FTA: individuals have to renew registration certificates every three years and show up at the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) every six years to be fingerprinted. “
Yeah because everyone knows a persons fingerprints change every 6 years. /eyeroll
Has to be VERY bad when even the cops publicly state that the DC politicians are trying to frustrate the Miller decision!
That whole mess is a perfect micro sample of what the federal government is doing at large with everything from industry regulations and oversite to entitlements.
They put controls in place that are restrictive. Once businesses or people find ways to circumvent or take advantage of the last layer of “controls” (laws) they add and tweak.
After screwing with laws, like tax laws, for so many years, the rules/laws become unenforceable, confusing, useless and expensive. It is precisely why government fails.
Government today is about sparing no expense or sense to take care of everything regardless of the consequences.
Wow, I’d take her fingerprints as often as I could, too!
Not Guilty!
Those laws are absurd. The city/district knows who owns the guns by virtue of the registration. So if someone become a prohibited person, the computers would automatically notify them. There should be no ongoing requirement to re-register over and over or pay fees again and again.
RKBA is a fundamental right. This requires strict scrutiny when drafting laws that may infringe upon the right. The government must have a compelling reason to draft the law AND must only take the least intrusive measures in drafting laws that may restrict a fundamental right. Making people constantly fill out forms and pay ongoing fees to exercise a fundamental right is not strict scrutiny. These laws should be stuck down.
Agreed. When is the last time that anyone had to go through such a process in order to go to a house of worship, buy a newspaper, etc., etc.? NEVER! "Fundamental" means "fundamental."
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