One Man’s Account of Applying for Concealed Carry Permit in D.C.: 'There Goes My Right to Bear Arms\

Following a federal judge’s decision to strike down a ban on carrying handguns in Washington, D.C., Washington Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski applied for a concealed carry permit. He reportedly filled out a “bunch of paperwork,” gave the city his fingerprints and paid $110.

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Three months later, he was informed by the city that he didn’t demonstrate a “special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community.” His application was denied.

Gutowski revealed on Friday that his application included several “online threats” he has received, including the following: “you’re gonna get it so bad, we’re comin for ya” and “I have a poster of you on my wall and every day I fantasize about how you’re gonna get it so bad, you bootlicker, you snitch, you dirty red-coat.”

As Gutowski also notes, “Washington, D.C., doesn’t consider its monumental crime rate a ‘good reason to fear injury to person or property.’”

The Second Amendment Foundation is currently suing the city over the restrictive concealed carry process. Last month, D.C. approved eight concealed carry permit applications and denied 11. The city had reportedly only received 69 applications by the end of January.

As for Gutowksi, he has just one option left regarding his right to carry a firearm: “appeal the ruling, in writing, within 15 days and hope a different set of D.C. bureaucrats finds my reasons good enough to allow me to exercise my right to bear arms.”

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