District officials will begin accepting applications for hand gun permits in a few days, but the nation's capital will still have the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and D.C. Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles unveiled the emergency legislation and regulations to repeal the city's ban on handguns on Monday.
There are four main components to the proposed legislation:
1. D.C. will continue to ban handguns in most places, with the exception of use in the home for immediate self-defense purposes. Sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and short-barreled rifles are still prohibited.
2. D.C. Police will need to perform a ballistics test on all hand guns to determine if the gun is stolen or has been used in a crime.
3. Guns in the home must be stored unloaded and either disassembled or secured with a trigger lock or in a gun safe -- except in cases of "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."
4. D.C. residents who legally register handguns will not be required to have licenses to carry them in their home.
Nickles says the most controversial restrictions will be the ban on semi-automatics and the requirement to keep a trigger lock on the gun. "We expect a lot of public input," Nickles says. "We probably expect also a lawsuit."
Applicants will have to take a written test, be fingerprinted and undergo a background check before they can take a gun home. It's unlikely that stand alone gun stores will be allowed to open, and people may need to re-register their guns annually.