The Illinois gun dealer licensing law — famous for Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms’ collusion in its passage through the State Senate — is a hit with the civilian disarmament industrial complex. As it heads to the House, our friends at The Trace are all over it, providing justification for a law that serves no practicable purpose. Like this:

The ATF regularly fails to meet its goals for inspecting gun stores, a process that can uncover poor business practices and illegal activity. Earlier this year, the agency announced that gun store thefts — a common source of firearms to criminal markets — had hit an all-time high.

The proposal also comes as Chicago is experiencing a surge in gun violence. Most of the weapons used in Chicago gun crimes are bought or stolen in other places and trafficked into the city.

State Senator Don Harmon, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Oak Park who sponsored the legislation, said he hopes that keeping closer tabs on gun stores will illuminate how weapons make their way onto city streets.

“We have a handful of gun dealers in suburban Cook County that are the source of a dramatically disproportionate number of firearms recovered at Chicago crime scenes,” Harmon said. “I’m focused on figuring out why that is.”

Translation: we have to pass the law to see why we need to pass the law. And figure out what other laws we can pass with an equally non-existent chance of affecting Chicago firearms-related crime rates.

More than that, The Trace’s isn’t waiting to “name and shame” so-called “bad apple” gun dealers; dealers who sold a legal product legally. The article uses the picture above captioned “Chuck’s Gun Shop has sold thousands of firearms that were later recovered by police.”

This is the kind of intimidation that Illinois State Senator Don Harmon and his Democratic minions — some of whom received cash donations from Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms — want to enact in Illinois. Pissing on the Constitution’s prohibition against infringing American’s natural and civil right to keep and bear arms.

Why? Because guns. The battle continues . . .

24 COMMENTS

  1. So they entire population of Illinois will have to suffer because the blacks in Chicago are out of control.

    If police departments weren’t hamstrung by fear of baseless civil rights violation charges and media crucifixion, the Chicago PD could solve this problem.

    LAPD under Chief Gates should be the model. Criminal types should be dealt with harshly. I know there will be some whiners here—but a functional society is much like a hot dog You don’t really want to know what went in to making it, you just want to enjoy the result.

    Gun crime in America is committed by a very small percentage of the population. Everybody knows who the bad people are. People in their neighborhoods know but won’t tell the cops. Cops know but can’t roust them because the media is just waiting fo turn someone into the next Darren Wilson.

    But that’s OK, we will just have more gun restrictions places on the law abiding because the permanent criminal underclass is incapable of being civilized, and the authorities are prevented from civilizing them.

    • They should just put iron bars around the west side and call it a zoo. Animals are always gonna be animals.

    • This here! Used to sit around as kids with stories from my dad who was a cop back in New York in the 50’s. He wouldn’t hesitate to put criminals in their place. Worst he got was desk duty. Now you arest someone of a different color and you’re a social pariah.

  2. I guarantee Chuck’s is not at fault. They are strict to the enth degree. Their customers in Riverdale not so much. Honestly I don’t know why they put up with the ghetto location. I won’t even drive in that hood anymore…

    • Harmon: “What I don’t understand is why, when there are no gun stores in Chicago, a lot of guns recovered at crime scenes in Chicago (not necessarily used in crimes) were bought originally in stores located close around Chicago. Gotta pass a law to figure that out!”

  3. I live in Illinois. The concern among gun owners here is tangible. It hangs in the air like the smell of asparagus pee, and mixes with the stench that is Illinois politics.
    While I don’t own any SA or RRA firearms, I can safely say that I never will. Either this bill passes in spite of our concerted efforts and effectively shuts down every kitchen table FFL and local gun store or it fails and TPOTG effectively boycott and destroy the market for their wares.
    And that last detail is of concern. The anti-gun political class is cognizant of the fact that they got a freebie on this deal. Not only will they get their dealer destroyer law, but they are also likely to see two manufacturers of guns fail.
    Right now we are fighting to continue our way of life. We need all hands on deck. We need every last FOID card holder and Freedom Lover to get onboard and start filling witness slips, calling the legislators, and writing letters to our governor. That’s how we do it here in Illinois. Even with the weight we can bring we still need the support of the people who facilitated this travesty. RRA and SA both need to survive long enough to help us lobby against this bill in the house committees that are stacked against us with Chicago anti-gunners. We need them to lobby again against this pile when it goes to the general assembly. And we might even need them to approach a pro-business governor and beg him not to destroy small businesses across the state with a signature. In short, we need them to clean up the mess they made. Not just for Illinois either. If this passes it will spread like cancer. It will scream across the blue states first before finding it’s way into the purple.
    It’s an evil little piece of legislation that doesn’t actually detail the real evil, which is to be determined in the rule making process after it is passed.
    Please help us any way you can. Send money to your favorite pro-freedom lobby group. Write letters. Tell everyone you know. This bill must be stopped because it’s coming your way too if it passes.

    • Well said. May I add if Rauner signs this abomination bill I will actively campaign against his billionaire azz…and send those witness slips! My state critters are all demoncrats here in Cook Co. Worse than useless…

    • Believe it or not I just got an email from Springfield Armory that was asking me to fill out one of those little tag forms and I live in Florida so I’m guessing they did a mass email to everyone. And I’m not sure how they got my email address either I don’t own anything Springfield and never signed up for anything through Springfield. But it was basically along thing stating hell there working with the NRA to block that bill and all this other stuff no mention of to the fact that they were the ones contributing to the anti-gun groups who are actually pushing this bill forward of course they leave that part out.

  4. If they know who the bad apple dealers are why punish all of the others? I thought in a country like America we didn’t punish a group because of the crimes of a few within that group? That would be prejudice.

    How does limiting the number of guns collectors purchase in a year do about gang bangers? Collectors don’t cause any crime. Collectors with collections and can afford to purchase many guns a year also have nice gun safes to protect their investments.

    Another nonsensical law for the sake of a law so their ignorant constituents think they are actually doing something. Stupid

    • We don’t have “bad apple dealers.” The dealers being targeted are targeted for one reason, their proximity to Chicago. You see, Chicago doesn’t have a single gun store. That means that people who want handguns have to buy them outside the city and they go to the three or four closest ones to the city limits. This is the reason why most of the Illinois sold guns traced in Chicago crimes are from those three or four dealers.
      If they could shut down those dealers, and believe me they have tried, the next closest dealers are like 30-40 miles outside the city and they would suddenly be the new “bad apple dealers”.

      • Or further out. Or they could get guns smuggled in at the same time as the coke they get from the cartels.

        Chicago is out of control because they refuse to deal with their crime problem. When some 15 year old is caught with a gun, he should get a Rodney King party THEN put in jail for a long stretch.

        Chicago doesn’t even prosecute gun crimes. The gun charges are among the first to be tossed.

  5. Yes this is extremely bad. A “licensing board” for gun dealers/FFLs packed with gun hating liberal democrats. If this passes the basement/kitchen table FFL will be a thing of the past in Illinois as will most gun stores. Big box stores are exempted and we are supposed to rejoice at that. Well wow their are very few of those in Illinois. None of the Walmarts in suburban Chicago area sell firearms anymore that I am area of. Heck most of them don’t carry ammo any more either. Only big box that I can think of are Cabela’s, Gander Mountain and Dicks but Dicks does not sell handguns and Gander Mountain is going out of business.

    This will be very convenient for Chicago and it’s mayor as the have been slapped down by the courts and told that they have to allow gun stores in Chicago and not use cute zoning tricks to stop that. Well now the “licensing board” could do the dirty work to keep gun stores out of Chicago and better yet close down those pesky suburban gun stores like Chucks, Midwest, and others citing the amount of stolen guns that come from them even though they were sold legally.

    I agree that this will spread quickly to blue and purple states if this becomes law in Illinois.

    Are you a gun owner in Illinois? If so are you a member of the Illinois State Rifle Association? If you are not what are you waiting for?

  6. everyone on this site should click on the appropriate link and send an email to Gov. Rauner and tell a friend to do the same.

  7. Demon-crats at it again, still, more! out law the Anti- American Party of twisted morals!

  8. Oh Springfield Armory, what did you do? What. Did. You. Do!?!1?!!

    The CEO should volunteer to get swatted with a rolled up newspaper.

  9. Chucks Gun Shop has been under fire from the Chicago politicians since the early 70’s. They must do a good business to put up with all the picketing, anti gun rallies, Jessie Jackson, and manufactured bad press. But its just about a mile south of Chicago and very popular for south side citizens to purchase a firearm.

  10. “Most of the weapons used in Chicago gun crimes are bought or stolen in other places and trafficked into the city.”
    False. ALL of the weapons in Chicago, used in crimes or not, are obtained in other places. Because there still are no gun stores in the City, even though it’s been “legal” for years now. Idiots.

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