Now that the Supreme Court has struck down the District's ban on personal handgun ownership, what's the next step?

City leaders advised residents that the ruling does not mean handguns are now legal in the District, nor does it mean residents will be able to bring handguns onto the streets.

"You cannot go out today and carry it around," said Interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles. "This is not open season with handguns."

The District does not expect the Supreme Court to offer its official injunction striking down the law for up to a month. In the meantime, the handgun ban stands as law.

For now, Mayor Adrian Fenty has directed the Metropolitan Police Department (web|news) to create guidelines for "allowing qualified citizens to register handguns for lawful possession in their homes." The process is expected to take three weeks.

According to D.C. leaders, all handguns will still have to be registered. Officials also say automatic and semiautomatic handguns will generally remain illegal. Again, exact definitions have not been created, nor is there a classification system.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court ruling "is limited to handguns in the home and does not entitle anyone to carry firearms outside his or her own home."

D.C. leaders also appear to be parsing the Court's ruling that struck down the provision of D.C. law requiring all rifles and shotguns -- which have been legal in the city -- to be kept disassembled or secured with a trigger lock.

In a statement, the city said, "firearms at home should be kept either unloaded and disassembled or else locked except for use in self-defense in emergencies."

Currently, D.C.'s sole firearms dealer only sells to law enforcement. The process to license new gun dealers, who could sell to the public, has not been articulated.

Further, D.C. residents are not permitted to buy handguns in other states. Any weapon purchased outside of the District's boundaries would have to be shipped to a licensed dealer in the city for pickup.

At the Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, co-owner Deborah Curtis predicts it will take at least six months before anyone in the District can complete the exhaustive process to become a federally licensed firearms dealer.

"You just don't decide to open a gun shop like a bagel store," she said.

She advises any future dealers to be cautious.

"We have to be very careful that we are letting people buy firearms who are doing all the paperwork, have all the i's dotted and the t's crossed."