Emily "I want a gun. I don't feel safe living in Washington, D.C."

[ed bernay]

how helpful (if at all) is Emily's experience in arguments/filings for the Heller 2 case?

 

[Hopalong]

If it wasn't already obvious that the DC government is blatantly trying to circumvent the Heller decision:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/31/running-dcs-gun-owner-gauntlet/

Great job, Emily!

I'm pleasantly surprised to see how supportive top DC cops seem to be of "our side" of the issue. You'd figure that the mayor/city council would listen to their own cops. Guess not.

 

[press1280]

how helpful (if at all) is Emily's experience in arguments/filings for the Heller 2 case?

Could be helpful since the DC Circuit remanded the registration(I don't recall if it's a specific aspect or the requirement as a whole) back to the District Court. DC may have to do some explaining why all these steps are really necessary.

 

[krucam]

MILLER: My Gun Registration is Approved
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/3/miller-my-gun-registration-approved/#
Friday, February 3rd, 2012

In late-Jan, UPS delivered a Sig for Emily, but the latest hurdle was the City's 10-day "cool down" period...well...

Nine days after I gave the police department my application to register my gun in Washington, D.C, I called to find out whether the application had been approved. It had- yes! This meant that I could soon take possession of a gun that, though I technically own it, has been sitting in a locked safe in the offices of the city’s only gun dealer.

Whoot! We're done, right?

“You need to call Mr. Sykes and see when you can meet up with him. And once you meet up with him, he’ll send you upstairs to the gun registry office to wait for your ballistics,” she told me. So what do I do now?

There seemed to be some missing pieces in this explanation. How do I get the registration certificate to Mr. Sykes so he can release the gun? And then how does my gun get to wherever the ballistics test is done?

More red tape...

"Up next in the series, the ballistics test and (hopefully) bringing my gun home."

 

[atreeves]

This is the definition of retarded. Why wouldn't they do ballistics while it sat in a locker for 10 days?!?

 

[MJD438]

This is the definition of retarded. Why wouldn't they do ballistics while it sat in a locker for 10 days?!?

That was one of my internal questions, along with wondering why she cannot witness the ballistics tests.

 

[I do not know]

Interesting. I'm glad someone in a position to reach out to the people is doing this; it should spark a lot of attention.

 

[BlueHeeler]

This is the definition of retarded. Why wouldn't they do ballistics while it sat in a locker for 10 days?!?

The gun is with the FFL during the cool off period. Previously that was across town from the ballistics office. MPDC does not have the provisions to store firearms during the waiting period.

 

[Markp]

The gun is with the FFL during the cool off period. Previously that was across town from the ballistics office. MPDC does not have the provisions to store firearms during the waiting period.

What, no room for all of the 1 or 2 guns being registered (both of which are probably yours) because no one else is willing to endure this garbage?

Seriously?

 

[krucam]

Miller: EMILY GOT HER GUN!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/8/miller-emily-got-her-gun/
February 8th, 2012

I finally got my gun in Washington, D.C. I brought it home today from the District’s firearms’ registry office

.

The bad guys buy guns off the street in five minutes, and the city has no record of the transaction. Law-abiding citizens have to take a five-hour class that is only taught outside of the District, pay $465 in fees, sign six forms, pass a written test on gun laws, get fingerprinted, be subject to a police ballistics test and take days off work.

 

[aray]

As krucam just reported, today Emily finally got her gun. (But it’s not over yet – see way down below.)

It took her 4 months and 3 days since she started the process, not to mention countless hours at the DC police department and at other locations. It also cost her $465 in total fees, not counting the actual cost of the gun itself.

Emily says there are 17 formal steps in the process, but when you break it down there’s actually a bit more than that, as she combines some related activities. I thought it might be interesting to try and summarize what she went through all in one long sequence, rather than the months-long separate blog postings she put up. It looks much more impressive that way IMHO when it’s all combined.

When you lay it out, it’s byzantine, if not crazy. Actually it’s not really crazy: it is intentionally designed to be as hard as possible specifically to frustrate potential gun owners. Also note that she has to ping pong back & forth between the gun registry office and other locations, only to have to come right back again. As Emily points out, in many cases that sequence is specific and enforced, but not written down. (“It’s the process” she was told by LEO.)

Anyway, here is my summary of what she went through. I hope I didn’t miss a step or summarize it incorrectly, but it is so convoluted that wouldn’t be hard to miss something:

• Go to the DC gun registry office in police headquarters to get the paperwork (20+ pages).
• Go and get two passport photos made.
• Get your eyesight tested (a driver’s license is sufficient if you have one – but many life-long DC residents who use the metro or bus system don’t).
• Provide proof of residency (again a driver’s license will work here too if you have one).
• Check the DC approved gun list to make sure what you want to buy is on the list. Note: the list she was given was different than the list on their web site – updated since her series of articles has run.
• Make sure the gun you want comes only with a 10 round capacity magazine.
• Make an appointment with DC’s only FFL. (Emily was fortunate to catch him in his office & he saw her without an appointment, but normally that would be a separate step.)
• Go see the FFL (during his part time hours) to notify him & work out the particulars in working with him.
• Fill out the eligibility form.
• Get somewhere to get it notarized.
• Search through the list of certified instructors eligible to teach the mandatory safety class. The list provided to Emily was a random list of 47 names & phone numbers, no affiliations, no web sites, etc. It contained people who no longer taught classes, one who only teaches if you happen to be in Georgia or Colorado, people who only teach in the basement of their own home, phone numbers that no longer worked (7 out of the 47), etc. Call them one at a time, figure out who really can do this, compare prices & locations (none are in DC), pick one, and arrange for the training. As Emily points out, for a single women who needs a gun to feel safe, requiring that she drive to another state, unarmed, to meet with a strange man who is armed, in his basement at home, is asking a lot. In her case she was able to find a woman (who was not even on the list!) who taught out of a real storefront in MD.
• Drive outside of DC to MD or VA. Training is required to own a gun in DC, but at the same time is forbidden within the boundaries of DC. (That applies to both types of training, below.)
• Take four hours of classroom training. If the classroom is not located at a range (in her case it was not) drive to the range and take one hour of range training.
• Have the instructor fill out the safety class form.
• Select your gun. In Emily’s case, since she had never owned a gun before, that meant travelling to VA or MD to a range, in order to try different models.
• Purchase the gun out of DC and arrange to have it transferred to the DC FFL. The one and only FFL in DC only transfers guns, he does not buy or sell them. In Emily’s case this turned out to be difficult since DC will not allow and the FFL cannot accept guns with > 10 round capacity magazines and many vendors would either not ship to the DC FFL or would not even swap out the standard magazines to a smaller capacity one.
• Get other “paperwork filled out and signed” (Emily did not elaborate on the nature of that.)
• Once the gun has come in make an appointment with the FFL
• Go to the FFL on the appointed date and have him fill out certain portions of the application form.
• Have the form notarized (the FFL did this for her).
• Go back down to DC police headquarters and turn in your registration application.
• Make an appointment with the FFL to have your form 219 filled out by him.
• Go to the FFL for that form. (In Emily’s case she was lucky again in that he was in the office as part of his part-time business and she was able to eliminate the appointment step.) Other forms are required as well (presumably normal gun sales stuff we’ve all done).
• Have the FBI background check done.
• Return to DC police HQS
• Take a written test on DC gun laws (includes questions on antique guns, etc.)
• Sign more forms to include the “background investigation release form” and the “notification of fingerprinting services fee” form.
• Leave police HQS and go to the DMV to pay certain fees (includes waiting in the DMV lines…).
• Go back to police HQS gun registry office to give them the receipt.
• Get your fingerprints made
• Give them your other forms (e.g. the certificate that you completed the two types of training.)
• Wait 5 days for the application to be approved. (If approved, your registration certificate is only good for 3 years, in which case you have to apply all over again. Fingerprints are good for 6 years before they must be redone.)
• Wait 10 days for a “cooling off” period (in Emily’s case the 5 days above overlapped with 5 of the 10 here).
• Call back to police HQS and see if your application was approved or not.
• Call and make an appointment with the FFL
• On that appointment date/time, go to the police HQS gun registry office.
• Give them your two passport photos. (That could have been done on an earlier step but Emily left them behind. But it’s a step that still has to be done.)
• Sign the form acknowledging that your gun registration only lasts 3 years.
• Pick up your paperwork which includes your registration form which they will notarize allowing you to own your gun.
• An officer is dispatched to the FFL in advance of you.
• You leave the police gun registry office and go to the FFL.
• FFL sees you have your gun registration form (making it legal for you to possess your gun) and then he fills out more paperwork.
• Leave the FFL, and go back to the police gun registry office with your gun and with the police escort.
• The police photograph your gun.
• The police fire and “fingerprint” your gun ballistics.
• Put your gun in a locked box.
• LEO takes your gun from you, wraps it in a bag, and departs from the gun registry office.
• You follow the police escort to the front door of police HQS and leave.
• Go straight home – you now have your gun for home self defense (for 3 years when the process repeats again). You may not carry in DC (concealed or open).

Unresolved (more articles will follow):

• How do you get ammunition for your gun? In DC it is illegal to possess ammunition for caliber that is NOT for a gun you legally own.
• Ammunition must be purchased from an FFL. However the one and only FFL in DC does not sell ammunition.
• How do you do target practice with your gun? The district has banned gun ranges inside the city.
• How do you transport your gun outside of DC (e.g. to go to a gun range in VA or MD)?

Full listing of her blogs (to date) are as follows:

Emily gets her gun, October 5th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/5/miller-emily-gets-her-gun/

Inside D.C.'s gun registry, October 6th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/6/miller-inside-dcs-gun-registry/

D.C.’s only gun source, October 11th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/11/miller-dcs-only-gun-source/

Steps to gun ownership in D.C., October 14th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/14/miller-steps-gun-ownership-dc/

Who’s eligible for a gun in D.C.?, October 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/17/miller-whos-eligible-gun-dc/

Learning to shoot a gun, October 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/31/miller-learning-shoot-gun/

Washington’s unsafe, gun safety class, November 7th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/7/miller-washingtons-unsafe-gun-safety-class/

Taking the D.C. gun safety class, November 14th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/14/miller-taking-dc-gun-safety-class/

Interstate Travel for a D.C. Gun, November 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/17/miller-interstate-travel-dc-gun/

Choosing a gun, December 9th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/dec/9/miller-choosing-gun/

Which gun should Emily buy?, December 12th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/dec/12/miller-which-gun-should-emily-buy/

Making guns near D.C., January 6th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/6/miller-making-guns-near-dc/

Getting a gun in Virginia, January 11th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/11/miller-getting-gun-virginia/

Why I still haven’t bought a gun in D.C., January 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/17/miller-why-i-still-havent-bought-gun-dc/

I bought a gun, but..., January 23rd: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/23/miller-i-bought-gun-dc/

Transferring a gun into D.C., January 24th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/24/miller-transferring-gun-dc/

I will testify before D.C. city council about guns, January 26th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog...er-i-will-testify-dc-city-council-about-guns/

Applying to register a gun in D.C., January 27th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/27/miller-applying-register-gun-dc/

My testimony at D.C. city council, January 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/31/miller-my-testimony-dc-city-council-video/

Running D.C.’s gun-owner gauntlet, January 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/31/running-dcs-gun-owner-gauntlet/

My gun registration is approved, February 3rd: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/3/miller-my-gun-registration-approved/

Emily got her gun!, February 8th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/8/miller-emily-got-her-gun/

 

[MJD438]

Glad she finally received her weapon and intends to keep on documenting the fight!

 

[Papi4baby]

As krucam just reported, today Emily finally got her gun. (But it’s not over yet – see way down below.)

It took her 4 months and 3 days since she started the process, not to mention countless hours at the DC police department and at other locations. It also cost her $465 in total fees, not counting the actual cost of the gun itself.

Emily says there are 17 formal steps in the process, but when you break it down there’s actually a bit more than that, as she combines some related activities. I thought it might be interesting to try and summarize what she went through all in one long sequence, rather than the months-long separate blog postings she put up. It looks much more impressive that way IMHO when it’s all combined.

When you lay it out, it’s byzantine, if not crazy. Actually it’s not really crazy: it is intentionally designed to be as hard as possible specifically to frustrate potential gun owners. Also note that she has to ping pong back & forth between the gun registry office and other locations, only to have to come right back again. As Emily points out, in many cases that sequence is specific and enforced, but not written down. (“It’s the process” she was told by LEO.)

Anyway, here is my summary of what she went through. I hope I didn’t miss a step or summarize it incorrectly, but it is so convoluted that wouldn’t be hard to miss something:

• Go to the DC gun registry office in police headquarters to get the paperwork (20+ pages).
• Go and get two passport photos made.
• Get your eyesight tested (a driver’s license is sufficient if you have one – but many life-long DC residents who use the metro or bus system don’t).
• Provide proof of residency (again a driver’s license will work here too if you have one).
• Check the DC approved gun list to make sure what you want to buy is on the list. Note: the list she was given was different than the list on their web site – updated since her series of articles has run.
• Make sure the gun you want comes only with a 10 round capacity magazine.
• Make an appointment with DC’s only FFL. (Emily was fortunate to catch him in his office & he saw her without an appointment, but normally that would be a separate step.)
• Go see the FFL (during his part time hours) to notify him & work out the particulars in working with him.
• Fill out the eligibility form.
• Get somewhere to get it notarized.
• Search through the list of certified instructors eligible to teach the mandatory safety class. The list provided to Emily was a random list of 47 names & phone numbers, no affiliations, no web sites, etc. It contained people who no longer taught classes, one who only teaches if you happen to be in Georgia or Colorado, people who only teach in the basement of their own home, phone numbers that no longer worked (7 out of the 47), etc. Call them one at a time, figure out who really can do this, compare prices & locations (none are in DC), pick one, and arrange for the training. As Emily points out, for a single women who needs a gun to feel safe, requiring that she drive to another state, unarmed, to meet with a strange man who is armed, in his basement at home, is asking a lot. In her case she was able to find a woman (who was not even on the list!) who taught out of a real storefront in MD.
• Drive outside of DC to MD or VA. Training is required to own a gun in DC, but at the same time is forbidden within the boundaries of DC. (That applies to both types of training, below.)
• Take four hours of classroom training. If the classroom is not located at a range (in her case it was not) drive to the range and take one hour of range training.
• Have the instructor fill out the safety class form.
• Select your gun. In Emily’s case, since she had never owned a gun before, that meant travelling to VA or MD to a range, in order to try different models.
• Purchase the gun out of DC and arrange to have it transferred to the DC FFL. The one and only FFL in DC only transfers guns, he does not buy or sell them. In Emily’s case this turned out to be difficult since DC will not allow and the FFL cannot accept guns with > 10 round capacity magazines and many vendors would either not ship to the DC FFL or would not even swap out the standard magazines to a smaller capacity one.
• Get other “paperwork filled out and signed” (Emily did not elaborate on the nature of that.)
• Once the gun has come in make an appointment with the FFL
• Go to the FFL on the appointed date and have him fill out certain portions of the application form.
• Have the form notarized (the FFL did this for her).
• Go back down to DC police headquarters and turn in your registration application.
• Make an appointment with the FFL to have your form 219 filled out by him.
• Go to the FFL for that form. (In Emily’s case she was lucky again in that he was in the office as part of his part-time business and she was able to eliminate the appointment step.) Other forms are required as well (presumably normal gun sales stuff we’ve all done).
• Have the FBI background check done.
• Return to DC police HQS
• Take a written test on DC gun laws (includes questions on antique guns, etc.)
• Sign more forms to include the “background investigation release form” and the “notification of fingerprinting services fee” form.
• Leave police HQS and go to the DMV to pay certain fees (includes waiting in the DMV lines…).
• Go back to police HQS gun registry office to give them the receipt.
• Get your fingerprints made
• Give them your other forms (e.g. the certificate that you completed the two types of training.)
• Wait 5 days for the application to be approved. (If approved, your registration certificate is only good for 3 years, in which case you have to apply all over again. Fingerprints are good for 6 years before they must be redone.)
• Wait 10 days for a “cooling off” period (in Emily’s case the 5 days above overlapped with 5 of the 10 here).
• Call back to police HQS and see if your application was approved or not.
• Call and make an appointment with the FFL
• On that appointment date/time, go to the police HQS gun registry office.
• Give them your two passport photos. (That could have been done on an earlier step but Emily left them behind. But it’s a step that still has to be done.)
• Sign the form acknowledging that your gun registration only lasts 3 years.
• Pick up your paperwork which includes your registration form which they will notarize allowing you to own your gun.
• An officer is dispatched to the FFL in advance of you.
• You leave the police gun registry office and go to the FFL.
• FFL sees you have your gun registration form (making it legal for you to possess your gun) and then he fills out more paperwork.
• Leave the FFL, and go back to the police gun registry office with your gun and with the police escort.
• The police photograph your gun.
• The police fire and “fingerprint” your gun ballistics.
• Put your gun in a locked box.
• LEO takes your gun from you, wraps it in a bag, and departs from the gun registry office.
• You follow the police escort to the front door of police HQS and leave.
• Go straight home – you now have your gun for home self defense (for 3 years when the process repeats again). You may not carry in DC (concealed or open).

Unresolved (more articles will follow):

• How do you get ammunition for your gun? In DC it is illegal to possess ammunition for caliber that is NOT for a gun you legally own.
• Ammunition must be purchased from an FFL. However the one and only FFL in DC does not sell ammunition.
• How do you do target practice with your gun? The district has banned gun ranges inside the city.
• How do you transport your gun outside of DC (e.g. to go to a gun range in VA or MD)?

Full listing of her blogs (to date) are as follows:

Emily gets her gun, October 5th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/5/miller-emily-gets-her-gun/

Inside D.C.'s gun registry, October 6th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/6/miller-inside-dcs-gun-registry/

D.C.’s only gun source, October 11th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/11/miller-dcs-only-gun-source/

Steps to gun ownership in D.C., October 14th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/14/miller-steps-gun-ownership-dc/

Who’s eligible for a gun in D.C.?, October 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/17/miller-whos-eligible-gun-dc/

Learning to shoot a gun, October 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/oct/31/miller-learning-shoot-gun/

Washington’s unsafe, gun safety class, November 7th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/7/miller-washingtons-unsafe-gun-safety-class/

Taking the D.C. gun safety class, November 14th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/14/miller-taking-dc-gun-safety-class/

Interstate Travel for a D.C. Gun, November 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/nov/17/miller-interstate-travel-dc-gun/

Choosing a gun, December 9th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/dec/9/miller-choosing-gun/

Which gun should Emily buy?, December 12th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2011/dec/12/miller-which-gun-should-emily-buy/

Making guns near D.C., January 6th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/6/miller-making-guns-near-dc/

Getting a gun in Virginia, January 11th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/11/miller-getting-gun-virginia/

Why I still haven’t bought a gun in D.C., January 17th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/17/miller-why-i-still-havent-bought-gun-dc/

I bought a gun, but..., January 23rd: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/23/miller-i-bought-gun-dc/

Transferring a gun into D.C., January 24th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/24/miller-transferring-gun-dc/

I will testify before D.C. city council about guns, January 26th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog...er-i-will-testify-dc-city-council-about-guns/

Applying to register a gun in D.C., January 27th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/27/miller-applying-register-gun-dc/

My testimony at D.C. city council, January 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/jan/31/miller-my-testimony-dc-city-council-video/

Running D.C.’s gun-owner gauntlet, January 31st: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/31/running-dcs-gun-owner-gauntlet/

My gun registration is approved, February 3rd: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/3/miller-my-gun-registration-approved/

Emily got her gun!, February 8th: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/guns/2012/feb/8/miller-emily-got-her-gun/

This is BS, the whole legislation in DC should be taken to jail.

 

[randyho]

Washington Times Senior Editor for Opinion Emily Miller was awarded the Clark Mollenhoff Award for Investigative Reporting from the Institute on Political Journalism.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/23/times-emily-miller-wins-mollenhoff-award/

 

[Boxcab]

Well done. Let's hope she wins another dozen for her on-going efforts.

 

[yellowfin]

Thus far I see no mention by her of the Palmer case. Strange.

 

[randyho]

And Emily wins SAF's Journalist of the Year Award. Well-deserved!
http://instagram.com/p/QLGsxwvsDQ/

 

[krucam]

Good for her! Thanks for sharing randyho, I assume you're down in Orlando at the GRPC as well?

 

[randyho]

Good for her! Thanks for sharing randyho, I assume you're down in Orlando at the GRPC as well?

Wish I was. I scarfed that from instagram, but have been following her tweets today.

I think she's produced some ground-breaking exposure on gun laws non-sense, and I mean that literally. Her step-by-step progression through the process that DC's idiotic series of laws dictated has done us all a service. Very happy to see her getting more recognition.

I'd like to see a MD copy cat. That I can't stop to pick up my FLETC firearm instructor BIL on my way to the range w/o falling outside of MD's laws is beyond idiotic.

 

[Inigoes]

I'd like to see a MD copy cat. That I can't stop to pick up my FLETC firearm instructor BIL on my way to the range w/o falling outside of MD's laws is beyond idiotic.

The word "directly" is not anywhere in § 4-203. Wearing, carrying, or transporting handgun