The Guns Are Coming

D.C. Police Chief, Cathy Lanier was on WTOP's Ask the Chief program and said she's been told federal authorities will issue final approval to a firearms dealer in the District soon.

"That's coming within the next couple of weeks," Lanier said.

While handguns have been legal in the District for a month, residents are still unable to purchase guns because there are no gun stores in the city. Charles Sykes is the only licensed gun dealer in the city who is willing to facilitate the transfer of handguns from out-of-state dealers into the District. Sykes, who has been transferring handguns for security firms since 1994, is waiting for the ATF to approve his change of address before he can start doing business again.

Sykes tells WTOP he met with ATF inspectors on Tuesday.

"They inspected my office. They say it should be only a few weeks now, then I'll get my license from the District police and I'll be back in business."

Sykes says he will be charging a $125 fee to transfer each handgun. Since Sykes is the only dealer in town, he can charge whatever he wants. $125 might seem like a lot. In my case it's 50 percent of the purchase price for my $250 Smith & Wesson. Sykes says he gets between 1 to 2 calls a day about transferring guns.

According to Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the ATF, Sykes has met all the requirements to renew his federal license. D.C. Police Spokesperson Traci Hughes tells WTOP Sykes could be open for business as early as next week.

Since the District began accepting applications for hand gun registration they have only received a handful of requests. Lanier says 22 applications are in the process and 11 have actually been registered. Those applications are all for people who either owned illegal handguns and are accepting amnesty, or they owned a hand gun and stored it in another state.

But just because there hasn't been a wave of new gun owners flooding the registration office at police headquarters doesn't mean the city hasn't been busy dealing with the gun issue. On Monday July 28, Dick Heller, the man who sued the District for his right to keep a handgun his home and won, filed another lawsuit against the city. Despite the fact that Heller now has a handgun in his home, he still thinks the laws are too restrictive.

The lawsuit claims the District of Columbia is violating the Supreme Court's decision by prohibiting the ownership of semiautomatic weapons, requiring a fee to register a firearm and establishing safe storage regulations that make it all but impossible for residents to keep a gun in the home for self-defense.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty isn't backing down. He says that any law the city passed was bound to be challenged in court. He believes the majority of District residents agree with his tough stance on semi-automatics.

Once the feds do give their stamp of approval to Sykes, police may see a spike in applications, but Lanier doesn't think there is a huge number of people waiting for that day.

"I do think the numbers will go up some once you can purchase in the District," Lanier says, "I don't think it's going to skyrocket."

While there are no gun stores, and most elected officials in the city don't want them, Lanier is open to shooting ranges.

"I don't really care where the gun ranges are," Lanier says. "And I don't care where people go to train, but I do think people should train with a firearm if they are going to have one.

As we move forward with legally registering hand guns I do encourage people to go and get the proper training and make sure they are comfortable in handling and using their weapon."

Lanier says D.C. law allows for gun owners to transport their guns to shooting ranges as long as they are safely stored.

"The law says you can transport your firearm to go to an approved range for training," Lanier says. "So I don't have a problem with that as long as you do it in a safe way."

As readers of this column will recall, I purchased a handgun the very first day the District began accepting applications for registering handguns. Because the law does not permit individuals from transporting unregistered handguns across state lines, my 38 Smith & Wesson sits in the back room of the gun store in Maryland where I bought it. Waiting for the day it can be legally shipped into the District. That day is getting closer.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All rights reserved.)