Just a little more FYI
The DC handgun "ban" which went into effect in 1976 (and a fine Bicentennial present it was) not only froze the number of legal handguns in the city, but also prohibits those guns (and I believe long guns as well) from being loaded or even fully assembled inside the District of Columbia!
Although proponents of the measure claim that the contined and increased violence with guns is because of the easy availability of handguns in surrounding Virginia and Maryland, only DC where the virtual ban is in effect has suffered the same levels of violence.
As an interesting sidenote to the ban, (and a poignient commentary on the elitist midset) some years back the noted columnist Carl Rowan, who had for years written that only the police and the military should be allowed handguns, he used an "unregistered" (and therefore illegal) handgun to "defend" himself from a 17 year old who had hopped over his backyard fence and was swimming in his pool. Rowan's comment on the situation was that as long as the city was awash in guns and violence he would defend himself and his family. His political connections kept him from facing any serious charges.
Political connections allow the Washington elite (both in and out of direct government service) to avoid the penalties of illegal firearms posession, if they even bother to have guns themselves, as most of them are provided government protection, or pay for armed private security.
Back in the later 70s, one of Ted Kennedy's (private) personal secuity detail got caught carrying his UZI (yes, the submachinegun) into the Capitol building. Kennedy immediately marched across the street to Justice, and got the charges quashed. One more example of the power elite using their influence to get for themselves what is denied to the rest of us by law.
And also please note that the handgun Vince Foster used to commit "suicide" was in violation of the DC law.