Amended Chicago Gun Ordinance Passes Committee, Praised By NRA

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 9, 2013 10:20PM

The City Council Public Safety Committee approved an amended city gun ordinance that has the National Rifle Association’s top lobbyist in Illinois singing praise Monday. The rewrites of the ordinance, which was passed into law in 2010 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled its predecessor unconstitutional, bring it into line with the state’s concealed carry law and had the NRA’s Todd Vandermyde calling it “a great day for gun owners in the city of Chicago.”

“Mayor Daley’s pinnacle handgun ordinance after the loss in the McDonald decision is now, for all intents and purposes, gutted,” Vandermyde said.

Gone from the ordinance are provisions requiring a gun registry and firearms permit provisions. According to City Law Department senior counsel Rose Kelly, striking those provisions removes conflicts with the state’s concealed carry law. Kelly told DNAInfo Chicago it’s still against the law to sell or transfer gun ownership within city limits and sales or transfers from a Chicago gun owner outside the city need to be reported within 48 hours. That and the provision requiring gun owners in home with residents under age 18 to secure weapons with trigger locks or store them in safes kept Vandermyde from running naked in the streets with his guns blazing. Vandermyde he would take a “wait and see” approach to those and other issues with the ordinance like bans on laser sights and armor-piercing ammunition.

The Public Safety Committee also approved a proposal from Mayor Emanuel impose stiffer fines and penalties for gun crimes committed within 100 feet of CTA buses or bus shelters, CTA or Metra trains or train stations. Vandermyde also agreed with that and said “They're going after the bad guys on that issue.”