By George Lyon, Esq., Arsenal Attorneys
In September of 2017, DC became a shall issue jurisdiction for concealed carry licenses as a result of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's decision in Wrenn v. District of Columbia and District of Columbia v. Grace.
Application procedures are relatively simple. Applicants must fill out a three page form available on line from the Metropolitan Police Department, which can be found at this link. The form can be filled out on line and printed. Applicants must take the form in person to MPD headquarters RM 3077, 300 Indiana Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001, Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm. Hint: don't arrive after 4 pm and expect to be served. Bring two forms of identification. If you are not a DC resident, you must provide proof of the issuance of a carry permit from another jurisdiction. It need not be your home state.
MPD will take your fingerprints and charge you a total of $110 ($75 for the application and $35 for your fingerprints). As part of the application fee MPD will register one carry handgun. Additional carry handguns will cost $13 each. Credit cards are accepted, but checks are not. Non-DC residents must register any handgun they intend to carry. Possession of an unregistered firearm in DC with minor exceptions is a crime. Registration is accomplished on Form PD219. That form is also available and fillable on line at this link.
DC requires proof of training by an MPD Concealed Carry Instructor of 16 hours classroom and two hours range training. The 16 hours of classroom training must cover statutorily mandated subjects including: (a) Firearm safety, including firearm safety in the home, a discussion of prevention of access by minors, locking and storing of firearms, and use of safety devices such as secure lock boxes; (b) Firearm nomenclature; (c) The basic principles of marksmanship; (d) The care, cleaning, maintenance, loading, unloading, and storage of pistols; (e) Situational awareness, conflict management, and moral and ethical decisions on the use of deadly force; (f) Defensive pistol and ammunition selection; and (g) DC and federal laws regulating firearms and DC law of self-defense. The two hours of range training must include a 50-round qualification from a maximum distance of 15 yards with a minimum score of 70 percent.
DC regulations give MPD discretion to waive all or part of the training requirement for persons with prior military or other training. What we are seeing since DC has become a 'shall issue' jurisdiction is that MPD is reluctant to exercise that discretion. To obtain a waiver, MPD is requiring 16 hours of training within two years of granting the application and requiring documentation, such as course syllabi, that the training taken meets each of DC's various requirements, including the 50-round range qualification score. Even with a waiver, DC will not waive the requirement for training on Federal and DC laws regulating firearms and DC law of self-defense. That training is mandatory from a DC licensed concealed carry trainer. Completion of training is not required in order to submit the application.
Currently, despite regulations requiring the applications to be processed within 90 days, DC is taking more than 120 days in processing applications. If you desire to obtain a DC Concealed Carry License, we urge you to submit the application as soon as possible and complete training in the meantime.
Arsenal Attorneys' George Lyon is a DC licensed concealed carry trainer. He regularly offers the training required for DC Concealed Carry Licenses, including a the full training requirements taught over two days or just the training required in DC law in three hour seminars. Arsenal Attorneys will host a seminar by George Lyon on Self-Defense Law, which will include the DC law requirements, on March 10 at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. More information can be found at this link.
Arsenal Attorneys is a law practice handling a variety of legal matters with a special emphasis on firearms and Second Amendment law. The firm is particularly renowned for its Arsenal Gun Trust solution, which it offers in nearly every state of America. Arsenal Attorneys also provides criminal defense, business services, and traditional estate planning in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
