The Politics of Guns

A loophole, deliberately created and left open, means more headaches for those law abiding folks who wish to follow the rules:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel will move Wednesday to update and strengthen Chicago’s assault weapons ban to meet a deadline established in legislation legalizing concealed carry in Illinois.
  
  “Weapons that are designed for the battlefield have no place on the streets of Chicago,” Emanuel was quoted as saying in a press release.
  
  "By strengthening our ordinance, we will have a clear, comprehensive and enforceable law that continues to prevent dangerous weapons from threatening the safety of our residents. Chicago will continue to lead the way in enacting the toughest gun control measures possible while still respecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
  
  The concealed carry bill on Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk gives Chicago and other municipalities ten days upon signage to pass new or updated assault weapons legislation.
  
  The legislation to be introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting would prohibit the import, sale, transfer and possession of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in Chicago.

Rahm hits so many of the anti-gunner highlights that all his claims of "respecting" the Second Amendment are just so much bullshit. All this loophole does is provide Rahm with more hoops for decent people to jump through. Get a load of the "banned accessories" for guns:

• They include: any semiautomatic rifle or handgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine and has at least one military feature; any shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine, has at least one military feature, or has a fixed capacity of more than five rounds; and any weapon with a fixed magazine of more than 15 rounds. Military features include “telescoping stocks, pistol grips, grenade launchers, barrel shrouds” and other features.

Well, that's just about every pistol on the Department approved carry list, not to mention the patrol rifles. Those evil "telescoping stocks," someone better tell the Alpha Girls that having a rifle that can be swapped among men with longer reaches and women with shorter arms are banned. Pistol grips that allow extra (and ergonomic) control of shot placement is a no-no. That shroud that protects your hand from getting burned by the hot metal barrel ever present during sustained use (like in training) - that's banned, too. And lord knows what the criminals might do without a grenade launcher because grenades were used in exactly how many murders last year? And speaking of murders:

• Richard Pearson, executive director of the Il. State Rifle Association, said he’s not surprised that Emanuel is updating the Chicago ban, jumping through the window opened by the Il. General Assembly.
  
  But, he argued that Emanuel is “attacking the wrong people,” noting that assault weapons were used in only one crime last year on the streets of Chicago last year.
  
  “To attack a firearm is pretty easy—a lot easier than getting kids to stay in school so you don’t have a 49 percent drop-out rate,” Pearson said.
  

Stop talking sense Mr. Pearson! The peasants might realize that this is nothing more than another "show bill" put up by someone who has spent the past number of years protected by men with guns in Chicago and Washington DC.

You know what we're thinking? Rahm and Highland Park and all sorts of other 'burbs run by democrats are going to put forth every single ban they can think of, since by doing so they will be grandfathered in the new law. Then Quinn will veto the bill anyway, amending it with some inanity suggested by Bloomberg or similar morons. The legislature, by which we mean "Madigan," will bluster about the override possibility, but isn't the legislature out of session for a few months?

We sense a whole bunch of BS still to come before a watered down and unnecessarily burdensome Conceal Carry finally takes effect...and then the ISRA, NRA and Second Amendment groups will have to sue again.