Because it’ll be a full three ring performance people will have to go through to exercise their rights:
The mayor said he’s looking at new D.C. laws requiring gun owners to go through five hours of safety training, register their firearms every three years and undergo criminal background checks every six years.
He must be worried he’s going to lose on the incorporation question. I would suggest this is progress, but we really want incorporation. If the laws are modified, they should be challenged, but we do not yet have a ruling yet from the Supreme Court which says these kinds of restrictions are a violation of the Second Amendment. All we have now is you have some vague individual right to a handgun in your home.
I don’t think you can condition the exercise of a fundamental right on having to jump through hoops. That’s not to say I think responsible gun owners shouldn’t get training. They should. I am not opposed to all safety training, just using it as a prior restraint on being able to purchase a firearm.