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A bill that allows some D.C. residents to carry handguns in public passed the Council unanimously today.
The emergency legislation, drafted in response to a court ruling that found D.C.’s ban on carrying handguns in public to be unconstitutional, gives Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier the ability to approve and deny applications for a concealed carry license. Appeals will be heard by a five-member board.
Applicants must prove they have a “legitimate need” to carry a gun. This includes “a good reason to fear injury to his or her person, which shall at a minimum require a showing of a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community as supported by evidence of specific threats or previous attacks.” Applicants must also establish that they haven’t suffered from a mental illness or condition that makes them a danger to themselves or others in the past five years, and undergo 18 hours of range and classroom training.
The bill restricts where handguns can be carried, including near schools, on public transportation and inside government buildings. Guns will be banned from businesses for 90 days. After that, business owners who do not want guns in their establishment must post “conspicuous signage prohibiting firearms” or “communicate such a prohibition personally to the licensee.”
People with a license cannot carry a gun while under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the point “that it has affected the licensee’s behavior in a way that can be perceived or noticed.”
Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) introduced an amendment today to establish a public database of concealed carry permit holders, saying people have a right to know if their neighbor or date has a gun. Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry opposed the amendment, saying it could set gun owners up to “maybe be killed” by others seeking a weapon. “This is a burglar’s paradise,” he said. Council Chair Phil Mendelson called the amendment “complicated,” saying it posed a potential public risk and should go through the committee process. Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, agreed.
“It may be that the person has to wait to go on their date until next year,” Mendelson said to Grosso.
Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large) supported the amendment, saying that, while there’s a right to bear arms, there’s “no commensurate right to privacy.” Yvette Alexander (D-At Large) was also in favor of the amendment: “Who cares about the confidentiality of a gun owner? We don’t want it, so expose yourself.”
Grosso withdrew the amendment, but then introduced another to make the information available under the Freedom of Information Act. Mendelson opposed that amendment, as well, urging caution: “Once that information is out there, we can’t take it back.”
Eventually, Grosso withdrew both amendments, settling for a provision that keeps the issue open to further debate.
Lanier now has one month to set regulations and implement the law. The bill is only in effect for 90 days, and a hearing on a permanent bill will be held in late October or early November. City attorneys will appear before Judge Frederick Scullin, who struck down D.C.’s ban, on October 17 to argue for reconsideration. A decision about an appeal has not been made, according to Wells.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said she plans to protect the bill from Congressional interference: “If any Member of Congress has nothing to do but to try to block or overturn this local legislation, I am prepared to take him on and suggest things to keep him busy.”
