As of today, their FFL is renewed:
License Number:
1-54-XXX-XX-XX-00725Expiration Date:
03/01/2011License Name:
SUGARMANN, JOSHUA ALANPremise Address:
1730 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW #1014
WASHINGTON
DC – 20036
I received a message back from Lee Brown at the Virginia office. The reason it took the ATF so long to get back to me is that there are no FFLs registered in Washington DC, and my query had to be transferred to the Virginia office (the 154 prefix is for VA, 158 is GA).
It is effectively impossible to get an FFL in DC. DC Code Ann. §§ 7-2502.01-7-2506.01 bans possession, sale, transfer, manufacture, purchase or repair of handguns, and it is forbidden to sell ammunition within the District. I’m trying to find the relevant statutes, but you must have a “retail dealer” license to sell any goods in DC, and no license can be given for selling things that are banned.
It is possible that he stores the weapons off site in Virginia, and I am checking the validity of that.
Everyone I’ve heard from who’s written their senator has been stonewalled. Here’s what I got from mine:
Thank you for sending me an e mail. I try to read and respond to all the e mails I receive in a prompt manner but the demands of serving as Senator along with the volume of e mails I receive can adversely impact my response time [when did “impact” become a verb?].
If this matter requires my immediate attention, please contact my secretary Kathleen at (404) 657-0406 and she will get your message to me.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact me about this matter.
Kathleen isn’t very good at passing my calls on, apparently.
Still waiting for the FOIA stuff to come back, but it could be a few weeks. I do find it grimly ironic that a Federal agency I despise is better about returning my calls than my own Senators.