So on July 17, 2008, the city opened up to allow guns in response to the Heller opinion. Guess who showed up? That's right — Heller. He didn't bring his gun to register since apparently it's still illegal to transport guns in the city, though it is now clarified that you can transport a gun for the purpose of registering it.
But then Heller was told that his handgun, a Colt .45 semi-automatic, is still illegal. So it's unclear what, exactly, Heller's eight-year lawsuit odyssey really changed. Turns out the District still bans all semi-automatic handguns, which are by far the most widely used handguns in the country. Only revolvers and certain models of rifles and shotguns are allowed. And if a rifle or shotgun can be "modified to become a machine gun," then it is banned as well. That really doesn't leave many weapons allowed under the law.
However, let's say you do have a revolver, and you successfully get it licensed. The DC regulations further say that you must keep it unloaded and either disassembled, in a gun case, or with a trigger lock. So your gun can't be ready to use for self-defense, unless the burglar politely waits for you to assemble your gun and load it.
You can't transport the gun. You can't fire it without written permission from the chief of police (which begs the question "Will you be fined if you use it to defend yourself since you don't have permission?"). You can't carry it outside of your home (thus preventing you from defending yourself in the street). And the law says the only time a gun can be used in self-defense is inside a registered gun owner's home (thereby allowing a criminal to shoot you and have it be legal as long as it takes place in a registered gun owner's home).
One wonders how the right to self-defense as recognized by the Supreme Court in Heller is allowed under these regulations. In short, it isn't. Heller found that out when his application was denied — for the gun he went to the Supreme Court over and won.
It's probably safe to say these new regulations won't last long as it's clearly impossible for them to be legal under Heller. Meanwhile, it's not shocking that very few people are bothering to attempt to register their weapons with the city — since most would be confiscated on the spot, being useful for self-defense, and since the city promises an eight-week wait until you get your gun back.
