Chicago Gun Laws Get Gutted by City Council It

It appears as if the move by a Chicago City Council Committee as the tentatively approved a rewriting of the city's gun laws that were passed following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McDonald v. Chicago has resulted in effectively overturning the city's ban on handguns. The official vote by the City Council occurs Wednesday.

"Mayor Daley's pinnacle handgun ordinance after the loss in the McDonald decision is now, for all intents and purposes, gutted," NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said. According to CBS Chicago: The number of Chicago gun laws will be cut in half. The action was needed to bring the city in line with the rest of Illinois, as a result of the recently passed statewide concealed carry gun law. Chicago had the toughest gun laws in Illinois.

Today's action is a victory "for the little guy who wants to keep a lawful gun in his home or a concealed handgun for protection," said Vandermyde, who tangled with powerful Ald. Ed Burke during the brief hearing. Several of Burke's signature gun safety bills will go away if the full Council votes yes.

"The Chicago firearms permit requirements are gone," said Vandermyde. "The registration of all firearms, for the first time in my lifetime, are gone. Those are some significant developments."

During the proceedings, there was some arguments between Burke and Vandermyde, the city mandate that requires gun owners to secure their weapons with trigger locks or in safes if the firearm is "not on their person" and they have someone under the age of 18 in the home. "Do you think a 75-year-old woman should be forced to carry her .38 around on her hip in her home every minute she's in her home because the grandkids are there?" Vandermyde asked. "So you're against an ordinance that mandates, if you have a gun in your house, it ought to be secure. …You oppose an ordinance that tries to increase safety in the homes in Chicago?" Burke, the author and sponsor of the trigger-lock ordinance, asked. Vandermyde shot back, "We don't oppose safety measures by and large. But we see these as being impediments to the lawful use of self-defense. For 30 years your city did not allow somebody to have a handgun in their own home for self-defense." "It's common sense that you have a trigger lock on a weapon that's in your house where you have minors," said Public Safety Committee Chairman Jim Balcer, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. "That minor can pick up that weapon, hurt themselves, hurt someone else."

My opinion is that it's more "common sense" to teach kids gun safety and to effectively use firearms from an early age. This takes foolish curiosity out of the child and helps them to understand how they are to be used and that they are not toys. How can I say this? I've done it with each one of my kids when they are young, and I have no problems of them going around and trying to get guns. My children treat each firearm as if it's loaded, because it is, and they come to me and ask to go and shoot them. So, while the anti-gun crowd wants you to be armed with a gun that has a trigger lock or no gun at all, I suggest education.

That is the real common sense approach. If the City Council agrees, here are items that will be wiped from the city's books: The registration of an owner's guns Required 5 hours of training
Transporting legal firearms can be prosecuted, vehicle impounded.
Using a legal firearm for protection only within the four corners of your home
Requiring trigger locks on guns in the home
Ban on laser sights
Ban on use of real firearms on stage or movie set

The city still bans laser sights, metal-piercing bullets, magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammo and certain semiautomatic rifles with distinctive cosmetic characteristics or so-called "assault weapons." We "have some more work to do, we'll get to that, but this is a good first step," noted Vandermyde. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, in a statement, that he wants more (non) 'Safe Zones' on and around buses and trains: "As a city, we have a responsibility to protect riders of buses and trains, especially the many students who rely on the CTA as a key mode of transportation, from the dangers of gun violence. I am very pleased the Public Safety Committee has taken the next step in creating new Public Transportation Safety Zones and increasing penalties for serious weapon and gun-related offenses near bus stops, bus shelters and El stations and on buses and trains."

Of course, Emanuel wants to extend soft target zones. That is what socialists do. They endanger others in order to feel good about "doing something." The reality is feelings don't stop criminals.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/chicago-gun...z2egHfnVwd