Jul 21, 2011

Heller? What Heller?

Mr. Sykes is the only licensed gun dealer in Washington, D.C., Population 600,000.  That's a good discussion topic all by itself when paired with the fact that I can offhandedly think of  four FFLs within ten miles of where I sit in a hick county of  18,000.

He lost the lease on his southeast Washington shop and can't find another location, meaning, among other things, there's no way to legally transfer a gun in the Capital. Even DeeCee officials concede their gun laws might play a role here.

The city prohibits "gun shops" within 300 feet of a church, school, playground, library or -- get this --residence,  For all practical purpose we can turn to Euclid for a a handle on what this means. A Washington gun shop must set in the center of a clear circle, 600 feet in diameter. That's about 1.6 acres in a city where a cramped basement apartment with iffy plumbing an a drunk sleeping in your doorway can set you back two grand a month. (Trust me on this one, Sidney.  BTDT.)

Enter Mayor Gray who has been getting nervous about lawsuits alleging he and his fellow public titters are trying to negate the Supreme Court's Heller decision. So, he decided , "Hey, guys, let's set Sykes up in Metropolitan Police Headquarters." 

It looks like this deal might actually happen.  It's probably just curmudgeonly to imagine an anti-Stalin activist group set up in the Lubyanka foyer, 1946.

1 comment:

Tam said...

In an ironic twist, given the amount of paperwork that entangles legal gun ownership in DC still, that's probably the most convenient place for it, from a customer's viewpoint...