Photo used under a Creative Commons license with kcdsTM.

Looking to register a handgun in the District of Columbia? You’re currently out of luck: Mark Segraves reports that there’s a “temporary, de facto ban” on registration because the city’s lone gun registrar has stopped taking orders after he lost his lease.

Charles Sykes — who owns CS Exchange at 1213 Good Hope Road SE, the only licensed gun dealer within city limits — got approval to facilitate the transfer of guns purchased outside of the District from the police department in August 2008, and began officially doing so on September 9 of that year. But it appears as if the $125 he’s been charging to facilitate the purchase of 1,000 firearms since the handgun ban was lifted from out of state for D.C. residents hasn’t quite been enough to keep the business afloat. And it could be a while until Sykes is able to process new registrations:

…it could be months before Sykes is able to re-open. He tells WTOP he hopes to have a new office location picked out in a week or two.

Even if Sykes were to find a new location, he is required to give the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 30 days advance notice of his move, and then the ATF has 60 days to review and approve the new location. The move would also have to be approved by the Metropolitan Police Department and the District’s Office of Zoning.

Sykes has not given any notice, but says he’ll ask ATF for an expedited review.

Of course, it’s hardly that simple. It’s unlikely that the city will simply coalesce to zoning a new area for gun sales without a fight. (Regulations requiring a gun shop to be located in commercial or industrial space and more than 300 feet away from any home, church, school, library or playground leave the Office of Zoning with very few options, in any case.) It’s also possible that gun ownership advocates could bring a case to court on Sykes’ behalf to overturn the regulations, but that just sounds like a case that could be settled quickly.