30,000 DC Guns To Be Registered, Owners Fingerprinted In 2014

The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department announced the start of a renewal process, requiring fingerprints and a fee, for about 30,000 guns registered from 1976 to 2011. 

This is the first wave of fingerprinting since D.C. enacted a law in 2009 requiring all gun owners to register their firearms every three years.

The 2009 law came after the supreme court decided that a D.C. law making handguns illegal was unconstitutional. 

If you have a gun that's up for renewal, MPD will send a notice in the mail, allowing a three-month window to register the firearm at MPD headquarters. 
 
There is a 90-day grace period, starting in April, with a penalty of $1,000, jail-time for less than one year, or both, MPD said. 

In a Washington Times column, Emily Miller protested the fingerprinting requirement on the basis that it is a process usually reserved for criminals, adding that criminals won't willingly line up to register their firearms. 

Police attempts to schedule reregistration for 30,000 guns in three months also worried Miller. 

"The whole convoluted mess will not do a single thing to make the city safer," Miller said.