Is it reasonable to expect that Alan Gura might try to hurt them in the wallet over this?
The District is doing its absolute best to comply with the Supreme Court's
Heller ruling as little as possible. In the wake of the decision, they came up with a registration scheme that theoretically allowed registration of privately-owned handguns, but made it as difficult as possible.
This [pdf] is what you have to go though just to own a handgun in DC. There was a
challenge to the scheme in the District Court. It ruled that the 2nd Amendment only deserved "intermediate scrutiny," and that,
the District's registration scheme did not unduly burden the citizens of the District based on arguments from the defendants that the various measures in place serve the government's interest in "accomplishing the District's public safety goals." (pp. 17-20)
One of the problems I saw with the case was that it challenged several facets of the District's law rather than just focusing on one or two. There are some potentially novel and effective strategies we can use to chip away at it, not the least of which would be an ADA lawsuit based on this:
[the applicant shall] be free from physical defects which would impair his or her safe use of the weapon, such as paralysis of hand or arm, poor vision, or lack of coordination due to age
As far as the requirement that the applicant "have reason to fear injury to his or her person or property or any other proper reason," that's being addressed by an SAF suit in Maryland (
Woollard v. Sheridan et Alii). They are also spearheading a
similar lawsuit against New Jersey's regulations.
I wonder if we're not barking up the wrong tree by going after the District specifically. We could get certain precedents (such as an acknowledgment for strict scrutiny) settled elsewhere, which could then be used to enjoin the District.