So imagine my surprise yesterday when skidmark sent me the following story:
Shot down: D.C. residents unable to register handguns
With Sykes out of the FFL business, DC residents have no licensed dealer from which they can purchase (and register) their firearms. No purchase, no register, no guns, period. They can't go out of District and buy, either, as there's no FFL to have perform the transfer needed to get the firearm across state lines. It will be interesting to see what happens when someone steps up to fill this void (gunnie opportunity here folks!) - will they have a similar hard time getting a lease to do business as an FFL? Until such time, DC residents are left without the ability to legally procure firearms.WASHINGTON - Nearly three years after the United States Supreme Court overturned the D.C. ban on handguns, residents of the District can no longer register guns in the city. A temporary, de facto ban is in place because the one man who could facilitate handgun ownership in the nation's capital has stopped taking registration orders.
Since the lifting of the handgun ban in June 2008, Charles Sykes has processed more than 1,000 handguns for District residents. Sykes tells WTOP he's stopped taking orders for now. "I've lost my lease," Sykes said in a phone interview. "I'll take care of the customers who already placed orders, but I don't want to take any more until I know where I will reopen."
Not only is Alan Gura wicked smaht (as we say in Bahstin), but apparently he can predict the future...
That is all.
7 comments:
A win in Dearth v Holder will either fix this directly or give us a precedent to fix it with.
I thought immediately after Heller, ATF allowed DC residents to purchase guns in VA? or was it DE?
I am half tempted to get a small commercial space in DC to fill that void.
I'll note a related minor-but-annoying item I discovered this weekend.
I stopped by my local Dick's Sporting Goods to stock up on ammo (the kids went through far more .22LR than I expected this past weekend), and discovered the store in the midst of a remodeling effort. In discussion with a store employee, I was surprised to learn that the work will result in the elimination of all hunting, shooting and fishing items at this location. The newly-completed footwear department and some other areas are expanding, so it's easy to tell where they believe the most money is to be made.
I left the store empty-handed - and will have little reason to return in the future. They told me that the stock for the areas eliminated from this store has already been moved to other Dick's outlets in the region, none of which are close to me.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as I live in gun-unfriendly suburban MD, between Baltimore and D.C., but it's another reminder that many aspects of exercising our freedoms can depend on the consistent availability of healthy private enterprises.
@Wally, DC residents have been buying handguns in MD or VA, but they've all been transferred via Sykes. They have to shop elsewhere because there are no retail stores in the district, but ATF hasn't cut them a break and probably can't legally do so. Congress has to fix the law, or the courts have to do it for them.
Two is one, one is none...
Couldn't a case be made that the District's restrictive zoning in prctice makes opening an FFL burdensome (read that somewhere)?
Maybe there's an old case with similar zoning, business operation circumstances that could be brought up...
I wonder if Josh Sugarman will take up the slack while Mr. Sykes is offline?
http://www.usacarry.com/forums/general-firearm-discussion/3374-ffl-dealers-washington-dc.html
I agree with Alan Gura -- the other Friday in DC, he was discussing the idea of a major national Big Gun Lobby (he never actually said, "NRA", to my recollection, but I did) setting up an FFL/range within DC and take it as a loss leader for "marketing" value. run it at cost, or even in teh red if need be, and offer transfer sales at cost.
I think it would be an ideal place to insert a member service center as well.
WV: "exosov" -- a communist with an chitinous shell.
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