(GunReports.com) — Washington, D.C., Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has introduced legislation that would allow prosecutors to offer “administrative dispositions” to nonresidents accused of possessing unregistered firearms or ammunition, allowing them to avoid criminal convictions.
The Washington Examiner reported that Mendelson said his proposal would address “honest mistakes” by people who enter the city without knowing of its firearms restrictions.
Under existing D.C. law, a person convicted of the misdemeanor charge of possessing an unregistered firearm faces up to a year in jail and a fine. An unregistered ammunition charge carries the same maximum penalty.
But administrative dispositions would potentially allow nonresidents to keep clean criminal histories by paying a fine, a procedure similar to the one the city uses for many arrested protesters.
