When the Dust Settles (by Gabe)

Now that the dust has settled around the landmark gun case District of Columbia v. Heller, the District is in the process of implementing the court's ruling. If you weren't following this case, you can read the synopsis here.

[NB - Wikipedia is a horrible source to cite for legal information; if you have "mandatory authority" and "persuasive authority," Wikipedia probably falls under "no authority at all." But I did find this particular article to be a good summation.]

Yesterday, the emergency legislation passed by DC in order to comply with the Court's ruling was put into place, and the office opened for legal registration of handguns. Only one application was received on the first day - that of Dick Heller, the plaintiff in the case. And his application was rejected!

Read the full WaPo story here.

Now, I'm not going to argue that this denial was an error, necessarily - the District officials had their reasons (and Heller's attorney had his reason not to comply!). But what I'm interested in, in all this, is the gap between theory and practice. SCOTUS laid down the theory, and now we're into real life - read that WaPo story for a fascinating real-life legal conundrum where the rubber meets the road.