Gun Sales Expected to Spike if Chicago Ban Overturned

By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 15, 2010 5:40PM

Suburban gun store owners are licking their chops at the prospect of Chicago's handgun ban being overturned, according to a report in Crain's Chicago Business. They interviewed several managers and owners at various gun shops throughout the suburbs who all anticipate a big boost in sales if the U.S. Supreme Court deems our ban as unconstitutional, a ruling that seems likely, with one owner expecting "thousands and thousands" of new guns being purchased.

Gun sales in Illinois have already been on the rise over the past year, seemingly sparked by the election of President Obama and the worry that he would impose tougher gun laws. The manager of Waukegan's most awesomely named store ever, Mike Schrank's Smoke 'N Gun, was quoted as saying he is hoping that "Chicagoans head that far north to buy," and that "it will be positive for the entire industry." All the owners said they had no plans to open up shop inside city limits, though, predicting that Mayor Daley would implement restrictions and zoning ordinances that would make running a gun store very difficult and cumbersome, if not impossible. Far from paranoid thought, as Daley has introduced new gun law proposals every year. Just last week he was pushing for a law making it a Class 1 felony to "knowingly sell or transfer a gun to a known gang member," and another requiring that certain types of guns entering Illinois be "micro-stamped" to help police match bullets with the firearm that they came from.

But Daley, for some inexplicable reason, still fails to demand an increase in penalties for people that actually use the gun in a crime instead of the people that sell them. While it hasn't been distinctly proven, there's much more evidence that implementing a mandatory increase in sentencing if a gun is used in the commencement of a crime would play much more of a part in reducing gun crimes than a ban ever will.