Heller Triumphant
Dick Heller exited a Washington D.C. police station victorious today with his handgun permit. It has been a long time coming. 
As the first person in D.C. to attempt to register a handgun after the draconian laws of D.C. were declared unconstitutional, Heller's application was rejected on two technicalities. The authorities of Washington D.C. wanted to see the 22 caliber revolver and test fire it. Heller's handguns were stored with a friend in Maryland.
D.C. gun laws haven't improved much. The home defense weapons must have a trigger lock, or be disassembled, they must not fall into the D.C. definition of a semi-automatic weapon, and the home owner is prohibited from using it, even for self defense, unless the application is approved. Even then, the approved weapon can be loaded and used only if the home owner reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger from an attacker in the home.
Doesn't sound like much of a victory. Yet. Challenges are being waged, and creeping incrementalism works both ways.
As the first person in D.C. to attempt to register a handgun after the draconian laws of D.C. were declared unconstitutional, Heller's application was rejected on two technicalities. The authorities of Washington D.C. wanted to see the 22 caliber revolver and test fire it. Heller's handguns were stored with a friend in Maryland. D.C. gun laws haven't improved much. The home defense weapons must have a trigger lock, or be disassembled, they must not fall into the D.C. definition of a semi-automatic weapon, and the home owner is prohibited from using it, even for self defense, unless the application is approved. Even then, the approved weapon can be loaded and used only if the home owner reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger from an attacker in the home.
Doesn't sound like much of a victory. Yet. Challenges are being waged, and creeping incrementalism works both ways.
Labels: Heller v. District of Columbia
posted by Xavier at 6:20 PM
2 Comments:
But they turned down his application for his H&K USP. Heller II is still on.
Change in a situation like this is necessarily incremental and slow. A year ago no one would have believed that we would have won this decision. A month ago Heller didn't have his gun registered, and their silly regulations were in place. Now he has his gun and more court challenges are in progress. DC is taking it on the chin and reeling.
Gun owners have to learn to be content with the long march, the slow chipping away at the stone. Our enemies have used that against us all these years, now we have to be smart enough to employ that tactic ourselves!
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