Near-term, the D.C. city council will have to alter the city’s gun control regime to comply with the Court’s directions. Until now, the D.C. government has taken the position, as expressed in the city’s court filings, that “Practical considerations, not arcane legal theories and historical excursions, should determine the … constitutionality of statutes like those at issue here.” Thankfully, the Supreme Court has reminded city officials that the Constitution is more than a guidebook to be cast aside whenever it is inconvenient. If the city attempts to circumvent the Court’s opinion, then Congress, under Article I, section 8, of the Constitution can and should exercise its plenary power over all legislative matters in the nation’s capital. Home rule, arising out of authority delegated by Congress to the D.C. government, is not a license to violate the Constitution.

Police in the District of Columbia are set to begin registering residents for handguns Thursday now that the district's 32-year-old ban has been lifted.

Besides obtaining paperwork to buy new handguns, residents also can register firearms they've had illegally under a 180-day amnesty period.

It comes after the District of Columbia Council approved new firearms legislation Tuesday and as officials try to comply with last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the city's ban on handguns.

Though residents will be allowed to begin applying for handgun permits, city officials have said the entire process could take weeks or months.

Officers will take temporary possession of guns to tag them and conduct ballistics tests.

Guns will be returned to owners, and they will get paperwork indicating that registration is in process. After an FBI background check, which takes about 14 days, the guns will be officially registered.

The registration process actually will be faster for people who have had illegal handguns compared with people who want to purchase guns.

A resident who wants to buy a handgun will have to wait at least a month. There are no legal firearms dealers in the city, so weapons will have to be purchased in a state and shipped to dealers in the city.

Police said the first D.C. dealers should be able to accept those guns in two weeks. It takes two more weeks for the registration process to be completed.

Officers will take temporary possession of guns to tag them and conduct ballistics tests.

Guns will be returned to owners, and they will get paperwork indicating that registration is in process. After an FBI background check, which takes about 14 days, the guns will be officially registered.