FNC Examines Plight of Would-Be Gun Owners in D.C. Even After Ban Struck Down
NEWSBUSTERS
By Brad Wilmouth on Fox News Channel
On Monday's Special Report with Bret Baier on FNC, correspondent James Rosen filed a report describing the line of obstacles to acquiring a handgun legally in Washington, D.C., in spite of last year's Supreme Court ruling overturning the city's outright ban on handgun possession in the city. Host Baier introduced the report: "Correspondent James Rosen reports while it is now legal to get a handgun in the nation's capital, it is definitely not easy."
Rosen went through the steps of obtaining a gun during the report, and ended up playing a clip of NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre as he summed up the process. LaPierre: "What D.C. is doing is throwing up every obstacle, shackling the freedom to the point where it's no longer really a freedom."
Below is a compete transcript of the report from the Monday, October 5, Special Report with Bret Baier on FNC:
BRET BAIER: Now a look at the aftermath of another big Supreme Court decision, last year's ruling that struck down the handgun ban here in Washington, D.C. Correspondent James Rosen reports while it is now legal to get a handgun in the nation's capital, it is definitely not easy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They hit right at the top of the bull's eye.
JAMES ROSEN: Target practice with a trained instructor and a Glock 17, the desired end goal for any aspiring handgun owner, but several steps down the line for residents of Washington, D.C. First comes a trip to police headquarters to pick up paperwork.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know all the safety features of your firearm?
ROSEN: Then a five-hour course on law, safety measures, and hands-on practice, taught by one of 30 licensed instructors in D.C., among them James Wiggins of Serious International Security.
JAMES WIGGINS, D.C. CERTIFIED FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR: If that weapon is discharged for any reason, there are legal consequences.
ROSEN: Then a trip to a gun store outside D.C., like the Blue Ridge Arsenal and Firing Range in Chantilly, Virginia. Is this the world's most powerful handgun?
BILL HART, BLUE RIDGE ARSENAL: This is currently the most powerful handgun in the world. It shoots a 50-caliber bullet.
ROSEN: Do they make a holster for this? After you pick out the weapon that suits you, D.C. laws require an FBI background check, a return to police headquarters for fingerprinting and a 20-question exam, then finally a 10 day waiting exam followed by another trip to police headquarters to pick up your stamped paperwork.
WAYNE LAPIERRE, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: What D.C. is doing is throwing up every obstacle, shackling the freedom to the point where it's no longer really a freedom.
ROSEN: Assuming you pass all the checkpoints, the folks at Blue Ridge Arsenal will transfer your firearm to the one licensed dealer who helps ordinary citizens register weapons, a camera-shy man who sees clients by appointment in this neighborhood. Then it is back to police headquarters one more time so cops can test fire the weapon. It has been almost 15 years since I last fired a handgun, and I found it similar to golf, where every fourth or five shot is good enough to delude me into thinking that if I stayed with it maybe I could actually be good at it. And it's equally unclear that legalized gun ownership will be good for Washington D.C., for while the city's homicide rate is down 30 from last year, it still ranks fifth in the nation per capita. In Washington, James Rosen, Fox News |
