Guns for Me but not for Thee

So what’s it take to be a legal gun carrier in the District of Columbia? Nothing much, just the willingness to be treated like a criminal. Stephen Gutowski explains:

DC Police fingerprinted me yesterday. But I’m not a criminal—I paid them to do it.

That’s because I’m applying for one of the city’s new concealed carry permits.

I live in Virginia and have been licensed to carry there for more than a year. I even carried into the city legally during the brief period after DC’s gun carry ban was declared unconstitutional. In response to that ruling, DC recently implemented a heavily restrictive concealed carry law.

If I want to bring my friends Smith and Wesson along when I travel into the city to file pieces for the world’s greatest fish-wrapped anti-Clinton website (and I do, since I both love working here and not being killed) I need to get a permit. Or, more accurately, try to get a permit.

I took a visit to the Firearms Registration Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department Thursday afternoon and I handed over my application, driver’s license, Virginia concealed carry license, and $110. Now I’m well on my way to wasting $110.

The D.C. concealed carry law is what’s referred to as “May Issue.” That means a bureaucrat has final say over who gets to bear arms and who doesn’t.

Pucker up, pilgrim.