PA Bill Number: SB945
Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.
Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)
Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024
The gauzy misdirection and untrue smears of an anti-gun-rights activist :: 05/11/2017
Chicago is experiencing an unacceptable level of violence. However, misguided proponents of Illinois Senate Bill 1657, the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, attempt to blame law-abiding gun and gun store owners for the violence instead of holding criminals accountable. The bill won't do a thing to stop this violence. What it will do is drive small business owners into bankruptcy due to mountains of red tape and fees.
Federal firearms licensees, or gun dealers, are already licensed and supervised by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF agents conduct extensive background checks and periodically audit every licensee. Most gun shops are staffed like mine: Every employee has a firearm owner's identification card and most possess a concealed carry permit. Both credentials require comprehensive background checks. Adding another level of state background checks simply wastes scarce law enforcement resources.
Bill sponsor Sen. Don Harmon's obfuscation of "trace" data has been truly appalling. Harmon, D-Oak Park, waited for the TV cameras to announce that 17 percent of crime guns are traced to just three gun shops in Cook County. Harmon's implication is that these shops sell guns to criminals, but that's not what a trace identifies, and he should know it. Law enforcement may trace a gun because it was lost, stolen, recovered by police in a benign setting or recovered at a crime scene. The only thing a trace tells investigators is where a gun was first legally purchased. He also doesn't explain that the average time from first sale to trace is nine years, or that the overwhelming majority of Chicago's crime guns are either stolen or bought on the black market. That's because those revelations won't support his campaign to drive Illinois gun stores out of business.
Most operational requirements in SB 1657 would be determined by rules created by a five-member board. In addition to two law enforcement and one federal firearms licensee, the Gun Dealer Licensing Board is set to include a "public safety advocate" and a lawyer. The last two will probably know nothing about licensed gun retailers' operations and may even have an ax to grind.
A careful reading of this vague legislation reveals that almost all of the standards, fees and penalties would be determined at a later date. There are no limits on new training requirements, security requirements, written exams, in-store inspections or any other potential regulations. No store would be able to survive the onslaught of a determined, anti-gun-rights board.
Security? The Des Plaines Police Department recently described my gun shop as a "fortress," and a one-size-fits-all security standard from a government board isn't going to improve that truth one bit. Moreover, if the state requires a copy of the blueprints of my shop to demonstrate compliance, then our security plans could be available to any aspiring burglar through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Gun control advocates can't point to a single line in SB 1657 that will prevent illegal firearm transfers or slow the illegal flow guns to criminals. What would make a difference? Vigorously enforce laws already on the books. Last month, a young Mount Prospect woman pleaded guilty to four gun felonies, including the unlawful transfer of firearms to known gang members and juveniles. She was sentenced to probation. No amount of regulations on law-abiding gun dealers will stop a trafficker like her. Only incarceration will.
Sen. Harmon said, "… There is no evidence that the gun violence problem is being caused by law-abiding gun owners. We need to focus on the real problem, which is illegal guns getting into the wrong hands."
While the senator's diagnosis is correct, his cure is way off target. Instead of making it difficult for law-abiding gun shop owners, fully prosecute straw purchasers, felons in possession of a firearm and people who unlawfully use a weapon. Incarcerate more criminals, and you'll get less crime. Make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, and you'll get more crime. Which goal is Sen. Harmon trying to achieve?
Dan P. Eldridge owns Maxon Shooter's Supplies & Indoor Range in Des Plaines.
