D.C.’S HELLER COMPLIANCE seems to focus on imposing bureaucratic barriers in place of legal ones. My favorites: “If you want to keep a handgun in your home, the MPD will have to perform ballistic testing on it before it can be legally registered. . . . Firearms in the home must be stored unloaded and disassembled, and secured with either a trigger lock, gun safe, or similar device. The new law will allow an exception for a firearm while it is being used against an intruder in the home.” So you can assemble it and load it after the burglar breaks in, without breaking the law. How helpful! This seems flatly inconsistent with the Court’s opinion in Heller.

This is bad faith, pure and simple, on the part of the D.C. government. It’s just more reason why Congress needs to take a hand in protecting D.C. residents’ rights. I hope the proposed legislation on that front moves ahead.

UPDATE: Proposed D.C. Gun Law Violates D.C. [Disability] Law.

Plus this: “Hey, here’s an idea: let’s require the cops to keep their guns disassembled and locked away at all times too, with an exemption allowed only while it’s being fired wildly at some perp during the commission of a crime. After all, if it’s really safety we’re concerned about here, what’s good for the citizenry at large ought to be good for them, too.”