Those celebrating the demise of the DC gun ban may want to hang on a bit. If you think your freedoms have been restored in the nation’s capital, that is just not true.

To be sure, it was yet another kick in the groin of statist gun grabbery when a US District judge ruled  in July that Washington DC’s ban on carrying guns outside the home was unconstitutional.

In the ruling, Judge Frederick Scullin ordered the DC government to stop enforcing DC’s odious ban on carrying firearms.  Two days later – two days of unbridled joy and freedom – the District was granted a motion to stay the ruling until it could either appeal or adjust.

That adjustment came in the form of new licensing laws that make it odiously difficult to get a license to carry.

As of October 22, a DC resident may apply for a license. Good luck getting one, however. DC officials claim that merely fearing for your safety in a city where you can get shot just for stepping foot in a particular neighborhood is not reason enough to be granted a license to carry.

Want to carry while sightseeing? Nope. Monuments are federal property, and Park Police won’t let you carry on the National Mall.

If you can prove you have a stalker, you may be granted your right to carry a firearm.

The mere idea that some government bureaucrat has the authority to “grant” you a right negates the very idea and principle of a right.

And the mere idea that you cannot exercise your right as a free person whenever you see fit without begging permission from a faceless, statist desk-jockey in the capital city of the only nation in the world whose Constitution expressly protects the people’s right to keep and bear arms is repugnant.

So don’t celebrate quite yet. While Palmer was a terrific blow to the gun grabbers’ cause, there’s a long way to go until we achieve freedom.