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D.C.'s Handgun Ban Hits Unintended Targets

Allan Lucas has taught scores of D.C. officers how to handle firearms, but the city's handgun ban prevents him from teaching in the District. (By Dayna Smith For The Washington Post)

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DCRA spokesman Michael Rupert says the problem is that "this is not a zoning issue, because the range he's proposing is a mobile unit. This is a police issue."

The police official in charge of gun control did not return my calls, but Lucas's case has been kicked back to the zoning world. A note to Lucas in April from the DCRA's deputy director advised him to seek a variance from the Board of Zoning Adjustment, an expensive process that Lucas is loath to undertake, given that no one in the DCRA or the police department has given him any reason to think his application might be approved.

The need for a range will soon become far more pressing, Lucas figures. "If you're going to let people have weapons, they're going to need a place to train," he says. "The worst thing you can do is legalize guns and have no way for people to learn how to handle them safely."

In the District, where neighborhood activists mount -- and often win -- crusades against the evils of restaurants, churches and schools, the prospects for gun shops and ranges seem mighty slim. But Lucas figures, probably correctly, that big-money interests will find a way to open gun businesses somewhere.

"And," he says, with a heavy sigh, "I'll still be the little guy standing on the corner."

Join me at noon today for a close look at the Supreme Court's ruling on the D.C. gun ban on "Potomac Confidential" athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline.

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