Chicago Sun-times Article--too funny for words
- Thread starter Neo-Luddite
- Start date
- Status
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
----error-----
GrizzlyGraves
Member
HA! Chicago politics at their finest. What a maroon.
1911 Guy, can I quote you on this,
I couldn't have said it better myself. I think I want to make shirts.
Just awesome. My day is going so much better now. *Whistles a merry tune*
1911 Guy, can I quote you on this,
I couldn't have said it better myself. I think I want to make shirts.
Just awesome. My day is going so much better now. *Whistles a merry tune*
Deacon Blues
Member
Chicago continues to draw attention to itself and the corrupt nature of gun control itself. Let it continue! The well-publicized foolishness of people such as the good Alderman may one day save us all from the dystopian vision the antis are pushing us towards.
Don Gwinn
Moderator Emeritus
Not for nothing, Bubbles, but he's lying about that. This is Dick Mell we're talking about. He's the guy who installed Rod Blagojevich (his son-in-law) in the Congress and the one who put Blagojevich in the race for Governor.
Ragnar Danneskjold
Member
Michigan has registration, but at least in my area, it's not very serious(still an infringement though). I forgot to register my P99 for about a year and all I got was a letter in the mail pretty much saying "please come by and register your handgun when you get around to it, please". I did and the lady at the record office didn't even care that I was a year overdue, no fine, no lecture, nothing.
Granted, any registration is a travesty, but I have it a lot better than some.
Granted, any registration is a travesty, but I have it a lot better than some.
I think many people are missing the most important part of this article!
From how I understand it handguns have been prohibited for most people in Chicago, but there was a grandfathering clause long ago when that prohibition was first put in place. Richard Mell has been in Chicago and involved in politics for decades. So he was one of those people with special rights due to grandfathering.
His special rights vanished because he did not keep up his annual registration.
His solution? Create a special window to requalify for the special privilidges of the grandfathering if you already were one of the few with those special privilidges.
So this will effect very few people if any besides himself, and is primarily his way of allowing himself to continue to own handguns in the city while most others cannot.
Some of his weapons, like the handgun are only legal because of grandfathering! As of 1982 no handgun not already registered in Chicago is legal to possess. If for any reason someone fails to annualy renew in time, they become illegal and the person never could requalify under the grandfather provision.
That became the case for him.
Well then the solution is to open a very narrow special registration that allows him to once again have special privlidges under the grandfather provision, and not to return the rights to mere peasants of the population. It justifiably gets you upset.
It should effect very few other people as it applies to handguns (and long gun registration is not an issue so that is primarily what it is about), because while he has legaly been granted those special privelidges until his lapse requiring this law, anyone else that had lapsed previously would have been in illegal possession from that date on, and not just a short time like Dick Mell here. So it really is just a law that effects primarily him.
He manages to get a lot of his family into politically important places.
In his defense he is often at odds with the authoritarian Mayor Daley who thinks he has his own country up there and can do as he wishes with his subjects. I think it has more to due with two individuals competing for power and not a healthy counterblancing, but at least they can be a thorn in eachother's side.
From how I understand it handguns have been prohibited for most people in Chicago, but there was a grandfathering clause long ago when that prohibition was first put in place. Richard Mell has been in Chicago and involved in politics for decades. So he was one of those people with special rights due to grandfathering.
His special rights vanished because he did not keep up his annual registration.
His solution? Create a special window to requalify for the special privilidges of the grandfathering if you already were one of the few with those special privilidges.
So this will effect very few people if any besides himself, and is primarily his way of allowing himself to continue to own handguns in the city while most others cannot.
Some of his weapons, like the handgun are only legal because of grandfathering! As of 1982 no handgun not already registered in Chicago is legal to possess. If for any reason someone fails to annualy renew in time, they become illegal and the person never could requalify under the grandfather provision.
That became the case for him.
Well then the solution is to open a very narrow special registration that allows him to once again have special privlidges under the grandfather provision, and not to return the rights to mere peasants of the population. It justifiably gets you upset.
It should effect very few other people as it applies to handguns (and long gun registration is not an issue so that is primarily what it is about), because while he has legaly been granted those special privelidges until his lapse requiring this law, anyone else that had lapsed previously would have been in illegal possession from that date on, and not just a short time like Dick Mell here. So it really is just a law that effects primarily him.
With one of his daughters married to the governor of IL as well, who was previously in congress.
He manages to get a lot of his family into politically important places.
In his defense he is often at odds with the authoritarian Mayor Daley who thinks he has his own country up there and can do as he wishes with his subjects. I think it has more to due with two individuals competing for power and not a healthy counterblancing, but at least they can be a thorn in eachother's side.
Last edited:
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
As I said earlier, I find the whole thing suspect; because Mell in fact would have had NO PROBLEM getting the registration 'fixed' for himself quietly. It's like he's sending up a trial balloon for the possible political nightmare (for Daley) of how to 'spin' the fact that Heller may force him to-re-open the handgun registry in some way. If they're pre-positioned to act like it was their brilliant idea all along, they'll get to save face perhaps.
Or, I'm likely giving these bizarre urban dwellers far too much credit for thinking ahead.
Or, I'm likely giving these bizarre urban dwellers far too much credit for thinking ahead.
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
And now Daley has responded--he's ALL FOR IT
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/960265,CST-NWS-mell21-web.article
Daley supports re-opening gun registration
May 20, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley said today he's all for the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago -- not as a favor to Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), but to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago.
A former hunter, Mell is proposing a one-month amnesty after he forgot to re-register his arsenal of shotguns, rifles and pistols as required every year by the ordinance he helped to pass.
Ald. writes law to cover his forgetfulness
During the month-long window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008 only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.
On Tuesday, Daley endorsed the idea without reservation. The mayor said Mell is not alone. A lot of gun owners have ignored the re-registration requirement and find themselves in the same predicament.
"A lot of people go back and forth to their summer homes ... A lot of people move their shotguns. A lot of 'em are bird hunters, gun collectors. ... They move 'em back from Wisconsin, Michigan, [other] parts of Illinois," the mayor said.
Referring to the proposed gun amnesty, Daley said, "It's one time [for] one month ... You want to have 'em register. There's nothing wrong with that ... People want to just register. A lot of 'em bring 'em back from hunting trips. So, why not?"
Earlier this week, Mell acknowledged that he knew about the re-registration requirement and should have complied with it. He said he delegated the responsibility to a staff member, who apparently dropped the ball.
On Tuesday, Daley defended Mell, who is the estranged father-in-law of Gov. Blagojevich.
"He has a home in Wisconsin. He brings 'em back and forth. He's not running out with a shotgun and hurting people," the mayor said.
Daley denied that the month-long amnesty would send the wrong message at a time when Chicago's murder rate is up 9 percent and dozens of young people have been injured or killed by gun violence.
"No it doesn't," he said.
Chicago's ban on new handguns -- and a companion requirement that all existing guns be re-registered every year -- was pushed through the City Council in 1982 in the wake of the assassination attempts on former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II and the death of two police officers.
The number of registered guns has steadily plummeted ever since.
Most gun owners have apparently decided that it's too much trouble to re-register their weapons every year. And tens of thousands of additional weapons have been purchased or inherited since the freeze took effect and brought into Chicago illegally.
Proposals to re-open gun registration in Chicago and create a three-to-six month amnesty have been kicking around City Hall for nearly 20 years.
In 1991, then-Police Superintendent LeRoy Martin endorsed the idea to get a realistic handle on the actual number of weapons in the city. At the time, Daley said he had an open mind about it, only to drop it like a hot potato after a few high-profile murders.
"You have to re-new your registration certificate annually 60 days prior to the current registration [deadline]. If you don't do that, the firearm is unregisterable," said Law Department spokesperson Jennifer Hoyle.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/960265,CST-NWS-mell21-web.article
Daley supports re-opening gun registration
May 20, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley said today he's all for the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago -- not as a favor to Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), but to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago.
A former hunter, Mell is proposing a one-month amnesty after he forgot to re-register his arsenal of shotguns, rifles and pistols as required every year by the ordinance he helped to pass.
Ald. writes law to cover his forgetfulness
During the month-long window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008 only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.
On Tuesday, Daley endorsed the idea without reservation. The mayor said Mell is not alone. A lot of gun owners have ignored the re-registration requirement and find themselves in the same predicament.
"A lot of people go back and forth to their summer homes ... A lot of people move their shotguns. A lot of 'em are bird hunters, gun collectors. ... They move 'em back from Wisconsin, Michigan, [other] parts of Illinois," the mayor said.
Referring to the proposed gun amnesty, Daley said, "It's one time [for] one month ... You want to have 'em register. There's nothing wrong with that ... People want to just register. A lot of 'em bring 'em back from hunting trips. So, why not?"
Earlier this week, Mell acknowledged that he knew about the re-registration requirement and should have complied with it. He said he delegated the responsibility to a staff member, who apparently dropped the ball.
On Tuesday, Daley defended Mell, who is the estranged father-in-law of Gov. Blagojevich.
"He has a home in Wisconsin. He brings 'em back and forth. He's not running out with a shotgun and hurting people," the mayor said.
Daley denied that the month-long amnesty would send the wrong message at a time when Chicago's murder rate is up 9 percent and dozens of young people have been injured or killed by gun violence.
"No it doesn't," he said.
Chicago's ban on new handguns -- and a companion requirement that all existing guns be re-registered every year -- was pushed through the City Council in 1982 in the wake of the assassination attempts on former President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II and the death of two police officers.
The number of registered guns has steadily plummeted ever since.
Most gun owners have apparently decided that it's too much trouble to re-register their weapons every year. And tens of thousands of additional weapons have been purchased or inherited since the freeze took effect and brought into Chicago illegally.
Proposals to re-open gun registration in Chicago and create a three-to-six month amnesty have been kicking around City Hall for nearly 20 years.
In 1991, then-Police Superintendent LeRoy Martin endorsed the idea to get a realistic handle on the actual number of weapons in the city. At the time, Daley said he had an open mind about it, only to drop it like a hot potato after a few high-profile murders.
"You have to re-new your registration certificate annually 60 days prior to the current registration [deadline]. If you don't do that, the firearm is unregisterable," said Law Department spokesperson Jennifer Hoyle.
Sage of Seattle
Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2006
- Messages
- 773
How is this getting a "realistic handle" on anything? No gang member is going to suddenly register his/her firearm because of this new one month window.
SO, how come the CAGE (Chikago Anti Gun Enforcement) unit didn't swoop in, toss Mr. Mell to the floor in cuffs, stomp his kittens, burn his house down, etc....
Seriously folks (I already know the answer...quoting George Orwell.."But some animals are more equal...") after over a year, Mr. Mell's firearms were not impounded...or is that only if your state FOID card expires?
Seriously folks (I already know the answer...quoting George Orwell.."But some animals are more equal...") after over a year, Mr. Mell's firearms were not impounded...or is that only if your state FOID card expires?
FieroCDSP
Member
Makes me glad I live in the USA. Banana Republiks like Chicago should rise up against their dictators and install a Constitution and representative government.
DonP
Member
Sounds very fishy to me.
There is some speculation that Mell and Daley may see the Heller vs. DC writing on the wall and are trying to create some plausible deniability when it comes to Chicago's turn in court by reopening the handgun registry for a month.
"See, we don't really ban handguns in Chicago, every 25 years or so we'll re-open the registry."
The reason it all sounds fishy is because every Alderman is a sworn police officer according to Chicago law and has permission to own and carry concealed if they choose to.
Most famous was former alderman Dorothy Tillman pulling a S&W J frame from her purse and waving it around in the middle of a city council meeting years back to make a point that she would not be intimidated by gang threats.
If not, then it's just another prime example of hypocrisy with two sets of rules, one for the ruling class and one for the rest of us mere peasants.
There is some speculation that Mell and Daley may see the Heller vs. DC writing on the wall and are trying to create some plausible deniability when it comes to Chicago's turn in court by reopening the handgun registry for a month.
"See, we don't really ban handguns in Chicago, every 25 years or so we'll re-open the registry."
The reason it all sounds fishy is because every Alderman is a sworn police officer according to Chicago law and has permission to own and carry concealed if they choose to.
Most famous was former alderman Dorothy Tillman pulling a S&W J frame from her purse and waving it around in the middle of a city council meeting years back to make a point that she would not be intimidated by gang threats.
If not, then it's just another prime example of hypocrisy with two sets of rules, one for the ruling class and one for the rest of us mere peasants.
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
The reason it all sounds fishy is because every Alderman is a sworn police officer according to Chicago law and has permission to own and carry concealed if they choose to.
Exactly DonP--that's why I'm curious.
Mell had NO REASON to worry about registering anything.
Also, Daley hasn't said -- exactly -- anything about 'new' handgun registrations--just the 'lapsed' ones.
Or maybe at 25 bucks a throw, they did the math and said 'wooo-hooo'-- revenue stream.
Exactly DonP--that's why I'm curious.
Mell had NO REASON to worry about registering anything.
Also, Daley hasn't said -- exactly -- anything about 'new' handgun registrations--just the 'lapsed' ones.
Or maybe at 25 bucks a throw, they did the math and said 'wooo-hooo'-- revenue stream.
scout26
Member
Yep, there's definitely something rotten in Denmark, errr. Chicago.
Sans Authoritas
member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2008
- Messages
- 1,126
"But he said: Woe to you lawyers also, because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear, and you yourselves touch not the packs with one of your fingers."
And so it has been since the Fall.
-Sans Authoritas
And so it has been since the Fall.
-Sans Authoritas
The thought that the police department refused to quietly register his guns after the fact is a joke. They would no more refuse a request from an alderman for such a thing than they would refuse to breathe.
I don't know quite what is going on with this, but it is very suspicious.
I don't know quite what is going on with this, but it is very suspicious.
Big45
member
The Evil Empire.
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
...And the saga continues--NOW the head of the FOP/ union is crying 'unfair'
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/964373,CST-NWS-mell21web.article
Police union boss blasts 'double standard' on gun plan
One set of rules for aldermen, one set for rest of us, he says
May 21, 2008Recommend (9)
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue today decried the "double standard" that prompted Mayor Daley to endorse the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago after a request from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).
"We have retired police officers who have a right to carry concealed weapons across the country, and they're being barred from registering their weapons in Chicago. We've taken one of these cases to Circuit Court. Dick Mell has taken his case to the City Council," the union president said.
"Whether he knows it or not, the mayor, by this agreement [to endorse a temporary gun amnesty] is establishing a double standard. One for members of the City Council, the other for everybody else."
A former hunter, Mell is proposing a one-month amnesty after he forgot to re-register his arsenal of shotguns, rifles and pistols as required every year by the ordinance he helped to pass.
During the month-long window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008 only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.
Daley responded by endorsing the idea without reservation--not as a favor to Mell, but to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago.
The mayor argued that Mell is not alone. A lot of gun owners find themselves in the same predicament. Many of them are hunters who bring their guns "back and forth" to summer homes in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, the mayor said.
On Wednesday, Donahue questioned the mayor's motives for endorsing the change. If the goal is truly what Daley says it is, then the amnesty window should be permanently re-opened for existing gun owners, the union president said.
"If they're looking to find out how many guns are in the city, leave it open. Why set a window on it? Do it for everyone who has an existing gun," Donahue said.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/964373,CST-NWS-mell21web.article
Police union boss blasts 'double standard' on gun plan
One set of rules for aldermen, one set for rest of us, he says
May 21, 2008Recommend (9)
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue today decried the "double standard" that prompted Mayor Daley to endorse the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago after a request from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).
"We have retired police officers who have a right to carry concealed weapons across the country, and they're being barred from registering their weapons in Chicago. We've taken one of these cases to Circuit Court. Dick Mell has taken his case to the City Council," the union president said.
"Whether he knows it or not, the mayor, by this agreement [to endorse a temporary gun amnesty] is establishing a double standard. One for members of the City Council, the other for everybody else."
A former hunter, Mell is proposing a one-month amnesty after he forgot to re-register his arsenal of shotguns, rifles and pistols as required every year by the ordinance he helped to pass.
During the month-long window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007 and April 1, 2008 only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.
Daley responded by endorsing the idea without reservation--not as a favor to Mell, but to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago.
The mayor argued that Mell is not alone. A lot of gun owners find themselves in the same predicament. Many of them are hunters who bring their guns "back and forth" to summer homes in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, the mayor said.
On Wednesday, Donahue questioned the mayor's motives for endorsing the change. If the goal is truly what Daley says it is, then the amnesty window should be permanently re-opened for existing gun owners, the union president said.
"If they're looking to find out how many guns are in the city, leave it open. Why set a window on it? Do it for everyone who has an existing gun," Donahue said.
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
And Mark--quit cryin'--retired LEO's CAN'T register new weapons--BUT NEITHER CAN THEY BE PROSECUTED FOR HAVING A SIDEARM IN THE CITY.
When you speak on record for concealed carry for ALL IL citizens--THEN will you be part of the 'everyone else'. Until then I'll regard you a 'fop' indeed!
When you speak on record for concealed carry for ALL IL citizens--THEN will you be part of the 'everyone else'. Until then I'll regard you a 'fop' indeed!
The reason for doing it is quite simple. They are anticipating a decision against DC in Heller. There are plaintiffs standing in line waiting to sue Chicago over it's gun ban. By opening the registry prior to the decision they are going to be able to argue in federal court that Chicago's registry is not a gun ban, because it does allow new registrations of handguns.
It's all designed to keep the registry/ban in place.
Jeff
It's all designed to keep the registry/ban in place.
Jeff
Henry Bowman
Senior Member
Jeff, I don't think that argument will go very far if "opening the registry" is limited to renewals of previously-registered handguns that expired during a specific 30-day period (as proposed).
OP
OP
Neo-Luddite
Member
Jeff- that is my take on the situation also. Oddly--ONLY the Sun-Times is giving this any coverage at all. Lots about Drew Peterson's arrest for having a SBR too short by 3/8", but not much on poor Ald. Mell's plight.
And the 'win-win' for Daley will be chest thumping about how great opening the registration will be as a crime-fighting tool AND all that $$$ coming in. Plus, the numerous limits on calibers and 'safety' devices in the local gun ordinance could still render the process impossible in any practical sense--if he decides to go that way.
And the 'win-win' for Daley will be chest thumping about how great opening the registration will be as a crime-fighting tool AND all that $$$ coming in. Plus, the numerous limits on calibers and 'safety' devices in the local gun ordinance could still render the process impossible in any practical sense--if he decides to go that way.
- Status
