Emily Miller. Courtesy of The Washington Times.

A few months ago, The Washington Times’ editorialist Emily Miller decided that she not only wanted to purchase and register a gun in the District, but also wanted to write about the experience.

In the process, she’s written first-person articles on everything from searching out the city’s Gun Registration Office in MPD headquarters to the not-so-easy search for a mandatory gun safety class. Despite a few occasional head-scratchers, Miller has effectively highlighted that despite finally allowing residents to own handguns, the District doesn’t make it particularly easy.

Now she’s turning her writing into advocacy. Miller announced today that she’ll be testifying before the D.C. Council on Monday on legislation introduced by Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) that would make the handgun registration process easier. She wrote:

Through the course of writing the “Emily Gets Her Gun” series on getting a firearm legally, I’ve become all too familiar with the ins and outs of the registration process in Washington, D.C. Now I will have the opportunity to share my experiences, complaints and suggestions with the local lawmakers who have the power to change these regulations.

I will be testifying before the D.C. city council’s Judiciary Committee on Monday, Jan. 30. As a D.C. resident, I will be telling the council members about my personal experience in trying to follow their convoluted registration process.

Skeptical as I was when the whole series started, I’ve become something of a fan of her investigations. First-person narratives of this sort can often spur action, though it’s unclear whether or not Mendelson has read Miller’s pieces. (I’ve put in a call to ask, and will update once I hear back.) Around the time that she started writing, he had already hinted that he wanted fewer restrictions on possible gun stores in the District, so he may have been on his was to realizing that the city’s registration rules contained some inconsistencies that made them virtually unnavigable.