2 June 17
Chicago additional:
My last Quip about the City of Chicago was true, but as it turns out, dated!
The mayor and other liberal politicians still hate the private ownership of guns, and all gun-owners, but things have improved, slightly, since 2013 when the rules I described were last in place:
From a friend in the area:
“Due to onerous rules that the City of Chicago imposed on gun-retailing within the City, there are currently no gun stores, so City residents must, at least for now, purchase guns outside City limits.
However, the federal court struck-down these rules as a ‘de-facto gun-ban,’ which the Heller and McDonald decisions, along with the Illinois CCL Act, prohibit. So, some gun retailers are now attempting to open shop within the City, but none have yet.
As for handguns, all restrictions have been thrown-out. Any City resident with a valid FOID (firearms owner’s ID) card may now purchase virtually any handgun anywhere in the state of IL and legally bring it into the City. No magazine-capacity restrictions. Any IL resident (including City residents) with a valid IL CCW Permit may now carry concealed within the City. IL CCW Permits are “shall issue,” and are thus not hard to get.
There are currently twenty-six ‘prohibited locations’ within Chicago and Cook County that a CCW Permit holder cannot legally enter while armed. Mass-transit is one, and Cook County Forest Preserves is another. This issue is also currently in court, because these are precisely where one needs protection!
The City of Chicago does still have a poorly-written ‘assault-weapon ban,’ so it is difficult for anyone to know precisely what guns are ‘banned.’ That issue is also now back in court. There is a good chance it will be ultimately thrown-out too.
All burdensome Chicago ordinances related to gun registration (mentioned in the last Quip), limits on number of handguns owned, magazine capacity limits, etc, were made void after July of 2013 with the enactment of the IL CCL Act.
There is currently no police effort (open or clandestine), I know of, designed to penalize or harass lawful owners and CCL carriers. My good friends within CPD are command-level officers, and they know of no issues.”
Comment: I still have no plans to visit Chicago (nor Baltimore, Detroit, NYC, et al), but there are obviously a few courageous politicians in IL (mostly Republicans, but even a few Democrats) who actually care about good and decent people, not just violent criminals. They deserve a lot of credit, and thanks!
I apologize for my dated information.
Things are looking up!
/John
