Nice
In Chicago (naturally): Ald. Richard Mell forgot to re-register his guns (which reportedly include a Walther PPK like this one). No problem — he’ll just write a new law.
Like you and me only better. One of the things I learned at NRA Con was that in Chicago, if you forgot to re-register annually, there is no way your firearm can ever be registered again. Ever.
The alderman is currently breaking the law.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Chicago alderman are allowed to carry concealed weapons ex officio. Honest. They’re considered peace officers. So Mell will probably be able to re-register under the peace officer exception.
(BTW, I have known him casually for about forty years. He was my alderman and, among other things, would ocassionally stop by my newstand for his paper. If he belonged to a different party, he might be one of those bitter white people clinging to their guns and religion.)
May 20th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Whoa! Those whacky gun laws!
May 20th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Wonder what you have to bribe these folks to open up the registry for everyone, all the time? Or make it a one-time thing. Can’t we get a Joyce Foundation grant to do this? All we have to do is establish the Chicago Greater Public Safety Committee of Fluffy Puppy Registration and Others and get it done.
There’s a number, and it’s probably less than we think.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
The article details that the alderman is taking care of this himself, as the law enforcement end of local government told him he was in the wrong and there was no legal way out. Until he created one for himself.
“Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.”
I for one welcome my future election as alderman in Chicago, with that position’s ability to change the law to suit myself after the fact of a criminal act.
The article does not mention that his guns have been confiscated by the police, and he has not been arrested for illegal possession ( a felony, I believe). That there was no criminal intent is not, I believe, a defense allowed under current law.
Mel should go to jail, directly.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
nk,
The Ald. exception applies to carrying, not private ownership IIRC. Were he to be arrested, they would get him for not having a properly registered firearm, not illegally carrying.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I was about to write you about this article, and use the “like you and me, only better quote”. Good stuff!
In this case, I’d like to see Mel not go to jail yet, but have the opportunity to correct the draconian law. If he doesn’t, then he should go to jail.
Btw, I don’t live in Chi-Town, but does the law allow for a ‘representative’ to register the firearms? (e.g. “A staff member was supposed to handle it.”)
May 20th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
The article does not mention that his guns have been confiscated by the police, and he has not been arrested for illegal possession ( a felony, I believe).
Nope. A minor misdemeanor. And you have time to remove them from the city. I know, I’ve been there. And I believe that I am right when I say he can re-register them as though he had just bought them. Otherwise all Chicago cops since 1982 or so would be going around unarmed. Don’t trust reporters to give you the correct story.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
How about the fact that his excuse was that he thought his staffer was assigned to do it? He just admitted that he was using a taxpayer funded government employee to handle his personal business.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I agree, Rick.
Reflexively blaming it on one’s assistant is poor form.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am
In this case, I’d like to see Mel not go to jail yet, but have the opportunity to correct the draconian law. If he doesn’t, then he should go to jail.
You have that exactly backwards. He should pay the penalty he was willing to have inflicted on every other citizen, and having learned the error of his ways, rectified the law upon his release. Consequence free legislation is a very big part of what’s wrong with this country.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:13 am
Anyone have standing up there in Chicago? File for a writ of Mandamus requesting that the Alderman be arrested and his illegally posessed firearms be duly siezed. Better yet apply for a warrant to perform the siezure.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Instinctively blaming your staff must be an Illinois thing. Obama seems to have mastered the art. It’s so hard getting good help.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
“A staff member was supposed to handle it.”
We now know where Obama gets it from.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Anyone have standing up there in Chicago? File for a writ of Mandamus requesting that the Alderman be arrested and his illegally posessed firearms be duly siezed. Better yet apply for a warrant to perform the siezure.
Naah. A better approach is to sue for the equal right of everyone in Chicago to keep and bear arms, not just aldermen. Carry in Illinois is loopholes in the law. I want more and bigger.