Chicago gun registration could be 'history'

[Tim Nunan]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 9564.story

A decades-old requirement for Chicago gun owners to register their firearms will soon be off the books after a panel of aldermen on Monday recommended repealing it.

If the full City Council agrees as expected on Wednesday, it will be the first time in Chicago since 1968 that legal guns don't have to be registered. That's when then-Mayor Richard J. Daley set up a city gun registry.

The latest blow to the city's gun control efforts was set in motion by a federal appeals court ruling late last year ordering Illinois lawmakers to allow the carrying of concealed handguns. The General Assembly gave final approval in July to a concealed carry law that gives sole control of gun permits and licensing to the state. That meant the city gun registry had to go.

Although Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, the architect of many of the city's gun control measures, and several of his colleagues accepted the changes like a dose of bad medicine, Todd Vandermyde, an Illinois lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, called them "a start."

Vandermyde still takes issue with Chicago's continued bans on gun sales within city borders, the sale of certain metal-piercing bullets and the use of laser sights on guns, saying the ordinances might not withstand a legal challenge, given the state's gun regulation authority. But he stopped short of threatening litigation, saying some of those issues would be addressed by a pending lawsuit against the city and that others could be worked out among city and NRA lawyers.

The latest changes also would eliminate the requirement that guns in a home be locked up or secured with child-safety locks. But remaining in place is a requirement that those steps be taken when someone younger than 18 is in the home, unless the owner is carrying the weapon.

Vandermyde took issue with that too, saying state law requires those steps only when a child younger than 14 is in the home. He also said state prosecution can occur when the gun is accessed by the minor and great bodily harm or death occurs, while city ordinances allow prosecution just for not securing the weapon.

Another point of contention, albeit one that is unlikely to come up much in the city, is the distance from a dwelling unit where hunting can take place. In state law, it's 300 feet. In the city, it's 750 feet.

The city had modified its gun registry three years ago to require that all handgun owners get a permit. That move followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the city's handgun ban, which had been in place since 1982.

Also Monday, the council's Public Safety Committee endorsed a measure that would toughen penalties for the illegal possession of a firearm within 100 feet of transportation facilities. A first offense would carry a minimum $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

Those penalties are in keeping with measures passed this year for weapons possession near a school. Those charges, however, are more typically brought under state statute, which allow for even tougher penalties.