A bill that would make it easier for residents to register handguns moved through a D.C. Council committee today, and if it passes the full council hopeful gun owners will no longer have to complete a five-hour training class, submit to a vision test or give up their gun for a ballistics test. The law would also allow the District’s mayor to act as a federally licensed firearms dealer if the sole dealer in the District goes out of business, as happened briefly last year.

The legislation easing gun registration requirements was introduced by Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) late last year after complaints from gun-owners and trainers that provisions of the existing law, which had been passed after the 2008 Supreme Court Heller case, made registering a gun distinctly challenging. Around the same time, Washington Times columnist and District resident Emily Miller went through the whole process, writing a series of articles complaining of how hard it was to navigate city rules and complete the training requirement. She got her gun earlier this month.

According to a committee report circulated by Mendelson, registration won’t be going away anytime soon, but it will be getting a little easier. No longer will residents have to complete four hours of classroom training and one hour of shooting range training; instead, MPD will be able to decide what level of training is sufficient. In testimony delivered in late January, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she’d rather show a video on firearms safety, much like Maryland does.

Other, smaller changes will also ease the process. Residents won’t have to submit to a vision test (they’ll only have to prove they’re not legally blind), provide passport photos or re-appear at MPD headquarters every six years for background checks. The committee report also encourages MPD to put the registration forms online. A ballistics test would become a thing of the past, a three-year re-registration requirement for gun owners would be pushed off until 2014 and residents would be able to purchase a gun and ammunition for the purposes of shooting at a range during the registration process.

The legislation would also address a D.C.-specific problem: no gun stores. The only way a resident can currently get a gun is to buy one out of state and have it transferred into a single federally licensed firearms dealer in the city. Last year, though, that single license-holder went out of business, effectively leaving residents with no way to buy guns. Though he was given office space in MPD headquarters, Mendelson’s legislation prepares for the eventuality that he might again go out of business by allowing the mayor to become a federally licensed firearms dealer of last resort should that happen.

And no, D.C. won’t be following Virginia’s lead anytime soon—residents will be limited to registering one gun per month.

B19-614, Firearms Amendment Act of 2012-REPORT