Loophole lets 15 semiautomatics in D.C. for 3 years

For the next three years, as many as 15 D.C. residents will enjoy a right denied their neighbors - the right to own recently banned semiautomatic weapons.

A discrepancy between D.C. laws approved last year enabled the residents to register semiautomatic firearms now listed as illegal in the nation’s capital. D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said roughly 15 weapons registered in the city “sit in this zone of uncertainty.”

The city’s statutes now state residents must register their guns every three years.

Mr. Nickles said those who have the semiautomatics will be prohibited from renewing their registrations, meaning the weapons would no longer be legal in the District.

The loophole is the result of the District’s repeated attempts to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the city’s decades-old ban on handguns.

Initial stopgap legislation approved by the D.C. Council a month later allowed residents to register handguns but prohibited them from registering automatic and semiautomatic handguns because they met the city’s definition of a machine gun.

After a lawsuit challenging the ban on semiautomatics - and amid a congressional effort to weaken the city’s laws even further - council members passed emergency legislation in September that legalized semiautomatics with magazine capacities of no more than 10 rounds.

That law expired in December, and the council approved another measure prohibiting specific types of semiautomatic firearms. Meanwhile, some residents have been able to register now-prohibited weapons with the Metropolitan Police Department.

“I think [police are] caught between a rock and a hard place on this,” said Maryland. “It has caused a real problem, and a lot of confusion.”

George Lyon - an initial plaintiff on the city’s gun-ban case decided by the high court - said he registered a semiautomatic rifle in late October.

“My understanding is under the new legislation, they would not register that weapon,” he said.

D.C. officials still must decide when they will notify residents of that decision, Mr. Nickles said.

“The question is when we tell them that and whether we decide to do something before the end of the three years,” he said. “But you know, we have to be fair about this.”

The issue could become moot if the Senate version of a measure granting the District congressional voting rights is signed into law.

Nevada Republican, last week successfully attached an amendment to the approved bill that would repeal some of the city’s strict gun laws, including a ban on semiautomatics.

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