D.C.'s ghost-gun law faces legal challenge from Dick Heller, successful gun rights activist

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/10/09/dc-ghost-gun-law/

In response to the rising number of untraceable “ghost guns” on the streets of Washington, the D.C. Council last year passed a law banning the weapons. The guns are homemade, with a barrel, trigger and slide attached to a polymer frame — with no serial number, so police cannot track them when they are discovered after a crime.

But a new lawsuit argues that the city’s law is overly broad and outlaws all polymer-based guns, including the top-selling handguns made by Glock — which are issued to most D.C. police officers. (The law makes an exception for military and law enforcement users.)

The city has a poor track record in its attempts to restrict guns in the city, with its prohibition on gun ownership overturned by the landmark Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. Now a plaintiff in that suit, Dick A. Heller of Southeast Washington, is back with a challenge to the new ghost-gun law, as well as the District’s long ban on manufacturing weapons.

D.C. elected officials have long “adhered to a cynical policy of ‘self-government for me, but no self-defense for thee,’ ” wrote George L. Lyon Jr., Heller’s lawyer.

(Excerrpt)