Heller registers his revolver

[quote]...carrying his 1911 single-action Colt .22 revolver in a cherry-red vinyl case.[/quote]

LOL! That must be a rare piece!

My post elsewhere after reading the WaPo article in detail:

Link
Long story short:
- you have to bring the gun you want to register WITH you (so it can be inspected, test-fired, etc.)
- Heller owns a 1911 semi-auto and a .22 revolver
- he wanted to register the semi-auto but didn't bring it with him
- he didn't bring it with him because it's defined as being illegal (it's branded a "machine gun" because it's capable of accepting a magazine larger than 12 rounds)
- the Asst. Police Chief flat-out stated that anyone bringing a 12+ round weapon in will have it confiscated and perhaps the owner will be charged with a crime

Ergo:

A registration for a semi-automatic still has yet to be rejected (which would, presumably, be the only thing that would grant one standing to sue), because the city won't even START the process of registration without the gun showing up in the hands of the registrant, and since semi-autos are illegal it appears that someone will actually have to get ARRESTED and charged for possession of a semi-auto (which will obviously get confiscated) before they MIGHT actually have standing to sue to reverse the semi-auto ban-by-definition.

Awesome.

If you show up and ask to register a Beretta and they tell you no, then I would think that would suffice to establish standing even if it wasn't in writing. You asked for a permit and were refused. That's all it takes isn't it. Or maybe I'm applying common sense to a situation that makes no sense.

I would think Critic is right here . . . David would know. But Heller wasn't arrested for anything the first time, right? He still had standing.

Given that people never read the newspapers or can be absolutely clueless at times, you can bet that someone will show up at MPD with a semi-auto pistol and have it confiscated, not knowing the nuances of DC policy and firearms law like we do.

IIRC, Heller had his application rejected by the DC police, which is what gave him standing to take the case forward. I guess now they've set up a nice solution to that problem from their point of view. They have to see the gun before you can apply to register the firearm. So yeah, if you want to challenge this law, it seems you'd have to be willing to lose the gun and risk getting prosecuted.