Why can't I carry in the District of Columbia?

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This is not a "legal" justification, but there are basically two reasons:

1. D.C. Home Rule. The elected D.C. government is completely anti-gun. This may be a function of the closed machine politics of the area, which is ideologically extremely leftist and statist (not to mention corrupt).

2. The presence of the White House, Congress, and numerous other federal agencies. This causes extreme security sensitivity. Even pro-gun members of Congress don't really want people carrying guns near where they meet.

Edited to add: In connection with (1) above, the D.C. electorate is self-selected to be anti-gun. That is, pro-gun people who come to the general area (to work for the federal government or otherwise) tend to locate in Virginia in preference to D.C. or even Maryland. Nobody who wants to own a gun (much less carry one) would knowingly locate within the District. So this is kind of a "feedback loop" with adverse consequences.
 
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Before 2008, handguns were completely banned in DC. And they were only legalized because the Supreme Court forced them to. Even then, the DC government has always done its very best to make it as difficult and tedious as possible to legally own a firearm in DC, and that didn't change after the Heller decision. Heck, it's even illegal to own loose bullets or casings if you don't have the proper permits.

I grew up in DC. AlexanderA is right: If you like guns you're not going to live in DC. Even if you have to work there, you can still live across the river in VA where the 2nd Amendment has a lot more sway. And I can't even begin to imagine how a pro-gun voter in DC would be able to change anything anyway; it's hard to vote for pro-gun candidates when there aren't any.

Tomrkba: I'm no lawyer, but I'm fairly sure DC is allowed to ban carry simply because no higher court has ruled against it. It's the same as their previous handgun ban: You could claim it was unconstitutional all you wanted, but nothing was done about it until the Supreme Court addressed that subject in Heller.
 
Virginia is a GREAT state (or, more correctly, commonwealth). It is much more pro-2nd than DC. However, it is becoming increasingly urbanized and, with that, comes an anti-2nd bias. I hope, over time, it doesn't completely ruin the state.
 
Virginia's movement to support the Second Amendment is fairly recent. It was only about twenty some years back when there was just one permit to carry a concealed weapon granted during an entire year in Arlington. I don't recall how many were turned down, but it was a high number. The one individual who got the permit had high level political connections.
 
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