• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Have you purchased a handgun in DC recently?

Anubis

Newbie
Joined
Sep 16, 2006
Messages
451
Location
Arapahoe County CO, ,
imported post

I know that it's now barely possible to register and own certain handguns in DC.

If you are a DC resident who has actually bought a handgun lately, please describe the purchase. (I seek first-hand reports only; reports of a wife's dog's veterinarian's uncle having done so would not be convincing.)
 

ianto94

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
142
Location
, ,
imported post

I bought a Glock 31 on the web, 10 round version. Had it shipped to Charles Sikes, DC's only FFL who is doing transfers. Sikes is not allowed to maintain an inventory and apparently is not interested in doing so anyway. Met with Sikes, paid him his $125 transfer fee, did the DC and Fed paperwork. Waited some 10 days per DC law, went to the DC police HQ with my two passport size photos and paperwork. (I have previously registered handguns and long guns so no fingerprint fee of $35 or proof of training, of which I have a boat load). Paid $13 to register the gun and $12 for the ballistics check fee. Application approved. Back to Sikes a few days later to pick up the gun, then immediately to police HG for ballistics check. Procedure is walk in and hand them the locked container with the gun before going through the metal detector; the gun is then walked over to the Firearms Registration Office, they take the weapon, do the background check, and then walk you out to the door and hand the locked container back to you. Then immediately home to load up. Yes. it is expensive and a royal pain. Likely how DC intends it.
 

DC Handgun Info

New member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
5
Location
Near D.C. (used to live in DC, good neighborhoods
imported post

There are a number of FFLs in DC, as many as 6, including Josh Sugarman of the Violence Policy Center and Arena Stage, the latter for stage firearms. The only one who will do business with the public is Mr. Charles Sykes (as referenced above).

Iwrote about the HIGHLY convoluted process at my pro-liberty blog, DC HandgunInfo.

In Virginia, pay for your purchase, fill out the federal and state forms, pass a 10-minute instant background check, and take your gun home to protect your kith and kin.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
imported post

So if Sugarmann isnt actually dealing in firearms, isn't he committign a federal offense? I thought that part of the stipulations of having a Class 1 FFL is that you must be actively engaged in the buying, selling, or transferring of firearms. If he's NOT doing that, isn't he breaking federal law by having an FFL and not doing anything with it? Isn't that fraud?

I know that Arena Stage (and the Folger, I believe, which manages he Washington Shakespeare Company) and a few other theater companies in DC have FFL's but they are NOT dealers Licenses. They hold licenses that ONLY cover theatrical devices like blank-firing guns and pyrotechnics for stage use...

But someone needs to look into Sugarmann's business record with regards to his FFL. It would be an ESECIALLY sweet irony if the president of the Violence Policy Center were indicted on Federal Firearms Violation charges for fraudulently obtaining an FFL...

The good news is that Sugarmanns FFL expires 3/10. I wonder if he will apply for renewal, and if he does, I wonder if the BATFE will re-up his license?. In many ways, I hope he does get his FFL renewed. Such blatant hypocrisy and flagrant disregard for the law on the part of the anti-gun-lobby is something we can always count on...
 

KBCraig

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
4,886
Location
Granite State of Mind
imported post

Dreamer wrote:
So if Sugarmann isnt actually dealing in firearms, isn't he committign a federal offense? I thought that part of the stipulations of having a Class 1 FFL is that you must be actively engaged in the buying, selling, or transferring of firearms. If he's NOT doing that, isn't he breaking federal law by having an FFL and not doing anything with it? Isn't that fraud?
No. Having an FFL no more obligates you to engage in business than having a DL requires you to drive, or having a carry license mandates that you actually carry a gun.
 

Dreamer

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
5,360
Location
Grennsboro NC
imported post

But on the application for an FFL, there is a question that asks if you are engaged in such business. If he put a "yes" on that check box, but he isn't, then he has "provided false information on a Federal Form", and that is an offense. HE would also have acquired his FFL under false pretenses, which is also a crime...

Can FFL applications be gotten through a FOIA request? I'd be interested to see what his application says as a justification for having a Class 1 FFL...
 

SlackwareRobert

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
1,338
Location
Alabama, ,
imported post

How do you "engage" in gun sales if you don't have the license?
Wouldn't everyone have to put no until they issue it to them?
About the only ones who can put yes, would be the criminals.

So they take the gun at the door, How do they get it out of the locked case?
Do they supply the ammo? I've never seen any comment on that. If not
are they not willfully destroying private property?
Can you do ballistics on the aircraft use ammo?

Any takers on if the SCOTUS will exempt McD's ruling on DC the same way they
restricted us from Heller.

On the good side, I saw a pic of Pelosi walking down the street carrying a club,
so I guess maces, and battle axes are legal in DC.
 
Top