Rauner may have tipped his hand on gun bill
Monday, Mar 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I told subscribers about this on Friday. From a media advisory…
Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), will join members of the Illinois Gun Violence Prevention Coalition, gun violence victims and their families, and Chicago’s top police official to call on Gov. Bruce Rauner to the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, a bill that will stem the flow of illegal guns into communities in Chicago and across Illinois.
The Gun Dealer Licensing Act would allow Illinois to license gun dealers and encourage better business practices while holding corrupt dealers accountable as authorities try to get a handle on the violence epidemic prevalent in Chicago neighborhoods and across the state.
* Gov. Rauner may have given his answer Friday while in Moline…
So, the federal government already regulates, um, these, um, gun dealers. Uh, so, and, we’ve gotta be careful about putting too much, uh, redundant regulation that won’t really change or improve anything, but it may actually hurt small businesses in the state of Illinois. So, we’ve got to evaluate the issues and we’re in the process of doing it.
The governor went on to say that he’s believed “for years and years” that “the most effective way of dealing with gun issues is at the federal level.” Rauner explained that, because of interstate commerce, “what we do should really be done at the federal level. But, he said he would take a look at “what we can do at the state level in Illinois.”
That doesn’t sound like he’s thrilled with this bill. But, hey, he said he’d veto HB40 and then he signed it.
* Related…
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Hold gun shops to same level of licensing as barber shops: “Any Illinois business that wants to sell liquor or tobacco, eggs or wholesale aquatic life, or to cut and braid hair, must be licensed by the state. Why should gun dealers be any exception?” Emanuel said. “This isn’t difficult: if we can license barber shops, we can license gun dealers.”
* Decatur-area gun stores stick with current age limits: Independent gun store owners in the area say they’re not joining large retail chains like Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods in placing greater age restrictions on gun sales than current state law requires. “Others can join the mass hysteria if they like, but we value the Second Amendment down here, and we’ll lean towards that,” said Dan Cooley, owner of Bullet Trap in Macon. … “They’re doing if for publicity, the mainstream media’s going crazy over this stuff and they’re just on the bandwagon,” [Lana Niemeyer, who sells firearms at Decatur Jewelry and Pawn] said of the major retail chains.
* Mother who lost son to gun violence has message for Gov. Rauner: But Rock Island native Othea Stevenson says we need action now. “I don’t think [the proposed bill] would hurt. I think we need any resources we possibly can have to get these guns off the street, or at least take control of what’s going on,” says Stevenson. Stevenson lost her 24-year-old son to gun violence in 2016. She’s been fighting against gun violence ever since and says the governor isn’t doing enough.
* Rauner outlines gun control, rail efforts in visit to KONE Inc.: Gun control is an issue that deserves a “comprehensive, bipartisan solution developed on safety from guns,” he said. “We need to do four things. We should ban bump stocks, No. 1,” he said. “No. 2, we should be more thoughtful and effective in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. We are not doing a good enough job of that.” No. 3, he said, “we need to do a better job of keeping our schools safer, and our public buildings safer,” he said … Lastly, he said, “we have got to find ways to be more supportive of our police officers and first responders,” he said. “But have them be even more effective in responding to the threats and the risks from gun violence.”
* Rauner pledges support for Q-C rail project: Ives, who has accused Rauner of betraying conservatives, voted against the legislation. During her Quad-Cities visit, she said the March 20 primary might pass before Rauner made a commitment. Proponents say that even with federal oversight of gun dealers, they aren’t effective at stopping weapons from being brought into Chicago and used in crimes.
- highspeed - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 8:21 am:
So what Rahm and the rest of the politicians are saying is that the ATF doesnt do a good enough job in vetting FFL dealers. Or are they saying, we just want to make some money and this is a prime opportunity!
- Langhorne - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 8:25 am:
Words/deeds
Words–comprehensive, BIPARTISAN, thoughtful, effective, supportive, careful. (Word salad)
Deeds– . . . .
- Anonymous - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 8:26 am:
I don’t like Rauner at all, and his reported “um’s” and ‘uh’s” are irritating as heck. But why is he the only politician where these hesitation blurbs are reported? I doubt every politician does it, but only one that I know of gets it reported as a means to Gin up the unlikabilty of this guy.
- Anonymous - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 8:41 am:
Between state/local license requirements, it costs $1000 per year to get liquor licenses. That’s 5x the proposed amount for gun dealers. Did Rauner put in a bill to repeal the liquor license costs to “help businesses”? States are the laboratories for policy development. Rauner hides behind the skirts of federal purview every time he’s scared to take a position.
- Happy Retiree - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 8:56 am:
Governor pass-the-buck is at it again. He spends an inordinate amount of time Gov-splaining how issues HE should be addressing belong to some other level of government.
- A guy - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 9:02 am:
==But, hey, he said he’d veto HB40 and then he signed it.==
Yep. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do and he won’t know until he does it. Check the weather to see what direction he thinks the wind is blowing that day.
- Anonymous - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 9:21 am:
Rahm’s quote is hilarious. Pretty sure you wont go to federal prison for ten years for giving an unlicensed haircut. FFLs are already threatened by severe threats of punishment.
- Stand Tall - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 9:29 am:
A politicians modus operandi, regulate it so you can attach a fee or tax too it.
- Roman - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 9:37 am:
If Rauner vetoes the bill this week, we’ll know Ives is too close for comfort in his internal polling.
I imagine he sits on this the max 60 days and then does more polling to see if he should sign it to appeal to suburban women, or veto it to shore up his base.
- Todd - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 11:06 am:
how about we just quit lying about the barbershops, nail salons and such. They have a state license, but NONE of them have a federal license. And all the gun dealers do.
And all of the ones in Cook Co have a local license on top of that. So lets quit lying about how they need to be held to the same standard as a hairbriader or others.
- Flapdoodle - Monday, Mar 12, 18 @ 1:47 pm:
I’ve got no problems with legislation that tightens up record keeping etc. for gun sales, but adding another layer of licensing seems unnecessary. Rahm’s argument about personal services state licenses is specious since those are not federally licensed.
Further, IIRC, stores with gun sales making up less than 20% of their total sales are exempted from the licensing requirement. So a big box store with $2 million total sales could sell $400K worth of guns without a license, but a dealer in a small town who might sell $100K would need one. There’s something screwy with that.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 13, 18 @ 12:21 am:
“Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), will join members of the Illinois Gun Violence Prevention Coalition, gun violence victims and their families, and Chicago’s top police official to call on Gov. Bruce Rauner to the Gun Dealer Licensing Act…”
A “top police official” who supports gun control and outlawing body armor, except for police and retired police. Big surprise there.
Former (thank God) NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde would know all about federal firearms licenses, since he has a company that sells silencers. If only Vandermyde put as much effort into passing a decent concealed carry bill in 2013 with Rep. Brandon Phelps, instead of colluding with anti-gun police unions to sell out armed citizens to be killed by cops, like Philando Castile in Minnesota.
- Suzy Snowflake - Tuesday, Mar 13, 18 @ 8:32 am:
I could almost agree that separate licensing is redundant and burdensome IF the agency responsible for inspections and follow up on violations were able to fulfill the responsibilities. In testimony before committee, agents from ATF stated they are nowhere close to being able to keep up with all of the gun dealers in Illinois as well as Northern Indiana. There has even been legislation introduced at the federal level to eliminate the ATF. Per information from 2016, only 7.1 percent of gun dealers were inspected.
Further, federal legislation does not REQUIRE inspections. It only requires dealers to submit to them.