As we mentioned yesterday, gun sales in the District will officially kick off next Tuesday, Sept. 9. But the city’s only licensed gun seller so far won’t actually be selling guns, he’ll just be facilitating transfers from guns purchased in other states. So what about gun shops?

In June we predicted that no matter what the Supreme Court’s ruling said, the battle over guns in the District would boil down to where they could actually be sold. Second Amendment or not, zoning regulations are sure to be one of the most significant obstacles to buying a gun within the city limits. And though quietly, those zoning battles have already begun.

A few weeks back the Examiner reported that any future gun shops will likely be limited to the downtown area and be at least two football fields apart from each other. According to the emergency regulations passed by the D.C. Zoning Commission on July 28, gun shops would be limited to the downtown corridor (roughly between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Avenues) and a 25-block area between Independence Avenue and M Street SW, and would not be allowed within 600 feet of a residence, school, library, church or playground. For you zoning nuts, the regulations state that gun shops are only allowed in C-3, C-4, and C-5 zoned districts, but even there only after receiving a special exemption from the Board of Zoning Adjustment.

This week DC Watch reported that the Zoning Commission has scheduled a hearing on September 29 to decide whether or not to make the limitations permanent. (Emergency regulations only stay in effect for 120 days.) The public is invited to testify, though anyone with an opinion to share has to formally express their intention to do so in writing. The full details are here (.PDF alert!).

Various members of the D.C. Council have already expressed their opposition to the regulations, calling them overly restrictive. Seems unlikely that Dick Heller and other gun advocates would suddenly go all shy on us, so expect a spirited fight to loosen the restrictions on where gun shops can and cannot open. (They’re big fans of the buy local movement, after all.) Then again, neighborhood activists are probably going to rise to the occasion too, arguing that gun shops should be located as far away from houses, parks, schools, playgrounds and libraries as possible.