Gun gap: D.C. firearm rules.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings

"SINCE D.C.'s Handgun Ban Ended," said a headline in the February 8 Washington Post, "Well-Heeled Residents Have Become Well Armed." The story continued in the same vein: "In the 2 1/2 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the District's handgun ban," Post reporter Paul Duggan wrote, "hundreds of residents in Washington's safest, most well-to-do neighborhoods have armed themselves, registering far more guns than people in poorer, crime-plagued areas of the city."

To those who welcomed D.C. v. Heller, the 2008 decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that D.C.'s gun ban violated the Second Amendment, the class angle is not the most striking thing about the registration data. More interesting than the correlation between income and gun ownership is the fact that almost no one in Washington, rich or poor, has taken advantage of the newly recognized right to arms, possibly because the registration process is so expensive and cumbersome.

When Post reporter Christian Davenport registered a handgun in 2009, he paid a total of $834, including $275 for a used .38-caliber revolver, $250 for a government-mandated gun safety course, $160 in transfer fees (because there are no licensed gun shops in D.C.), and $60 in police department charges. Completing the process...