What's wrong with criminalizing possession of an object? We do that all the time. Counterfeit money, for example. The theory being that these items may make their way into the public. I believe that was the very reason used by the DC City Council when they passed the law. Are you saying that the citizens of Washington, DC, through their elected representatives, should not be allowed to decide this issue?
They shouldn't be allowed to decide this issue any more than they should be allowed to decide to legalize chattel slavery, disemboweling as punishment for criticizing the government, or random roadside body-cavity searches.
The whole point is that handguns "make their way into the public." That's what they're for. Where else would they be except in possession of their owners, being members of the public?
Self defense is a fundamental human right.
"They shouldn't be allowed to decide this issue any more than they should be allowed to decide to legalize chattel slavery"You find the two issues equivalent? And here I thought you were a serious poster. Perhaps if you compared the second amendment to, say, the first amendment (where a narrow category of "speech" is regulated), you'd come to a different conclusion.
"Self defense is a fundamental human right."
Don't illegal aliens have this right? Prisoners? The mentally ill? Children?
I was under the impression that we all had the God-given inalienable right to self-defense. Don't you agree?