Virginia – -(Ammoland.com)- Good news for everyone who wants to get a Washington DC carry permit – DC permits are going to be “shall issue” soon!
The Washington DC government has decided not to appeal a reversal of their “may issue” law after the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them.
Actually, I’m betting that they didn’t do so out of pressure from other may-issue states, such as New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Maryland. If the U.S. Supreme Court had a chance to rule on the case, it’s quite likely that those other may-issue states would have had their laws overturned. That’s OK, the days of “may-issue” are numbered anyhow.
If you have already submitted an application previously for a DC carry permit and were denied, your application will be reconsidered if the justification was “self-defense.”
I contacted Senior Officer King, 202-727-9741, earlier today and he said DC will automatically review all previous applications that had been turned down because “self-defense” was not a good enough reason. He also said there would be a formal notification to all the applicants about the reconsideration of their applications.
Officer King said nothing will happen until 1) the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issues the formal “Shall-issue” order to the DC Chief of Police and 2) the DC Chief of Police issues the instructions to the licensing bureau to proceed and how to proceed.
This could be done in days or it could be a couple more weeks.
Bottom line is I would recommend standing by for now and I will advise once the wheels are turning. It looks like there will be nothing to do, but wait for the notification from DC about your application being reconsidered.
If you haven’t previously done so and wish to apply for a DC permit, you can contact Officer King for instructions on how to proceed.
NOTE: While Virginia Citizens Defense League generally doesn’t cover laws of localities outside of Virginia, both Washington DC and Maryland, which border Virginia, are of such a great interest to many of our members, we do make the occasional exception.
Here is a link to a story about DC’s decision not to appeal. Thanks to Virginia Citizens Defense League member S. R. Jr. for the link:
About Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL):
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). Virginia Citizens Defense League is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
For more information, visit Virginia Citizens Defense League.
Nobody’s existing application is going to be reconsidered. When the previous judge ruled against DC and struck down the requirement for a reason, that section of the application was left blank by applicants. They say they will review any applications that list “self-defense” in that section because they know there aren’t any. Everybody is going to have to reapply.
Your statement about changes only taking a couple of weeks, are panglossian in scope! The chief of police of DC is rabidly anti-gun! She hates guns almost as much as she hates gun owners! She will drag her feet, she will make hundreds of excuses, and the so-called bureaucratic process will drag to such a crawl, that ‘shall issue’ might be possible about a year or so from now! Mind you, that day will only come after several more lawsuits are filed against her and against the department she runs, and against the city council, which will also drag its… Read more »