Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Dems may try to override Rauner veto as gun supporters rally

Posted in:

Illinois

The Illinois General Assembly has only a few hours left to vote on a gun dealer licensing measure that would require gun shops to register with the state and pay a license fee. Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed the proposal earlier this month, giving lawmakers only 15 calendar days to get enough support for an override. The deadline is today.

State Sen. Don Harmon – an Oak Park Democrat and sponsor of the measure, said he is still waiting to get enough support in the House and decided to not call it for a vote Tuesday evening.

“I recognize the political dynamic at work here, and it’s a tough vote for a lot of the members of the Senate, so I want to make sure we have at least a realistic chance of overriding the veto in the House as well.”

Harmon said some Republicans are needed for the override. “We just need a little more time to convince a few more suburban Republicans, in particular, to come on board and vote against the governor,” he said. “My sense is the governor doesn’t want the political embarrassment of an override. I think the issue at hand is much greater than the political dynamic here in the building.”

* AP…

.

The measure would require five-year gun-shop licenses, employee training and in-store videotaping. Republican Rauner vetoed it as “burdensome regulation” that duplicated federal licensing.

Harmon’s proposed it before. This year it came after the February massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school and because of ongoing Chicago gun violence. […]

Thousands of gun-rights advocates descend on Springfield Wednesday for their annual gun

More on the annual I-GOLD rally can be found here.

* NRA…

While the purported intent of this legislation was to enhance “responsible business practices,” these bills only prove that the intention is to close as many federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) as possible. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) licenses and closely monitors all FFLs and strictly enforces any violation of federal law. SB 1657 and HB 1273 go so far beyond federal law in its mandatory regulations and red tape imposed at the state level that they would almost assuredly force the closure of most firearm dealers and prevent prospective owners from opening new ones. This legislation seeks to create so many department divisions, anti-gun 5-member licensing boards, and licensing fees that dealers would be forced to close through oversight by anti-gun appointees or being priced out of business.

* The Trace…

The Gun Dealer Licensing Act would require Illinois gun shops to obtain a state license in addition to their already mandated federal license. It would further compel dealers to conduct background checks of their employees, which federal law mandates only for shop owners, and have employees take part in mandatory training. The bill would also require shops to install video-monitoring systems in an effort to deter straw purchasing, in which a buyer purchases weapons on behalf of someone not legally allowed to own a gun.

Under the proposal, Illinois authorities would perform inspections of all gun dealers in the state. Currently, inspections fall to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency in charge of regulating firearms. However, as The Trace has reported, the ATF rarely meets its inspection targets for dealers. In 2016, agents inspected just 6.3 percent of gun stores nationally. In fiscal year 2015, the last year for which data is available, there were 2,925 dealers in Illinois.

In Chicago, a significant share of firearms recovered by police have been traced to gun dealers across the state. A report released by the city last year found that approximately 40 percent of the roughly 15,000 crime guns recovered by Chicago Police between 2013 and 2016 were sold by dealers in suburban Cook County. Almost a thousand guns that turned up at city crime scenes were linked to Chuck’s Gun Shop in the suburb of Riverdale. Midwest Sporting Goods on the West Side in the suburb of Lyons supplied nearly 700 crime guns.

State Senator Don Harmon, a Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation, said that the bill would give local law enforcement the “tools to crackdown on the handful of gun dealers who are abusing the process.”

The report is here.

* This Tribune bit could be very important and subscribers know just a little more…

Harmon said his focus was on convincing suburban Republicans to override Rauner. He said changes to the plan were being discussed in an effort to minimize the impact on gun shop owners.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 9:34 am

Comments

They could put a high sales tax on guns 500% or more. Make it a crime to not report and pay tax on any gun bought out of state and brought into Illinois.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:12 am
== Make it a crime to not report and pay tax on any gun bought out of state and brought into Illinois.==

It’s already a crime to buy something out of state and the sales tax in that state is less than in Illinois. You are obligated to pay Illinois the difference between the Illinois sales tax and the sales tax you paid in another state.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:23 am
They want to make it acceptable to the small dealers, they need to do the following:

1) apply equally to all gun tetailers, including the big box stores

2) make the fee a miniscule amount, like $10 - $20

3) write into the bill they will NOT copy all federal sales forms in order to build a state-wide database of firearms. Only allow on-site inspection with no copying.

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:41 am
=It’s already a crime to buy something out of state and the sales tax in that state is less than in Illinois.=

To add, dealers in most other states won’t sell guns to people from Illinois.

Comment by m Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:42 am
==state-wide database of firearms==

What is it with the tin foil hat fear about this?

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:45 am
“dealers in most other states won’t sell guns to people from Illinois.”

Out of the 3 long guns I have bought in the last few years, 2 were in MO. The last, this year was at a Rural King in IL. I wont make the mistake of buying in IL again. The ones that i did buy in MO the dealers both followed IL waiting periods since I was from IL. Handguns can not be bought out of state without transferring thru an instate ffl, per federal law.
This bill will drive more bussiness across state lines.

Comment by SOIL M Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:54 am
“They could put a high sales tax on guns 500% or more.”
This has been attempted in different ways in the past. The idea of pricing firearms to the point where only the wealthy elites can purchase them leaves the less affluent unable to exercise their constitutional right to defend themselves.

Comment by SOIL M Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 10:58 am
Maybe they could slap a ridiculous fee on the other constitutional rights also?
==state-wide database of firearms==

What is it with the tin foil hat fear about this?
Maybe the possibilty that overzealous gun haters could come back around and declare something currently legal to be illegal and subject to confiscation? (CA and Chicago have proven this possible)

Comment by Tequila Mockingbird Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 11:01 am
“They could put a high sales tax on guns 500% or more.”
was dropped from my last post

Comment by Tequila Mockingbird Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 11:02 am
“write into the bill they will NOT copy all federal sales forms in order to build a state-wide database of firearms. Only allow on-site inspection with no copying.”

That’s the whole point of this bill, so the state police can search gun dealers, copy the names and addresses of gun owners, then turn them over to local police and sheriffs. Richard Pearson from ISRA and (former) NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde will never mention this to the gun rubes gathered at the capitol, because their backs are permanently bent over from bowing to anti-gun police unions for the past twenty years. Part of the mythology that keeps Pearson in his office at ISRA World Headquarters in Chatsworth is that “law abiding gun owners” and the police are “on the same side.”

It’s simplistic good old boy nonsense from 1962, and their followers keep sending them money. Check out the IGOLD march today if you want to see all the people who used and betrayed Otis McDonald in Brandon Phelps’ concealed carry bill: Richard Pearson, Todd Vandermyde, and Valinda Rowe. All three of them together couldn’t punch their way out of a paper bag, and they are not capable of matching wits with the career politicians at the capitol.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 11:35 am
==It would further compel dealers to conduct background checks of their employees, which federal law mandates only for shop owners, and have employees take part in mandatory training.==

The humanity. Criminal background checks for gun dealers. Definitely an attack on the 2nd Amendment.

== require shops to install video-monitoring systems in an effort to deter straw purchasing, in which a buyer purchases weapons on behalf of someone not legally allowed to own a gun.==

Heaven forbid we’d do anything to help us track down the criminals.

The NRA only makes itself look silly when they oppose things like this.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 1:14 pm
==It would further compel dealers to conduct background checks of their employees, which federal law mandates only for shop owners, and have employees take part in mandatory training.==

== require shops to install video-monitoring systems in an effort to deter straw purchasing, in which a buyer purchases weapons on behalf of someone not legally allowed to own a gun.==

I can’t speak to other shops, but my local neighborhood firearms dealer already complies with everything in the vetoed bill in terms of video, training, security, etc. … except for the new requirement of an Illinous specific license.

Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 2:22 pm
Does the State of Illinois government really think that they can do better than the Feds on regulation of gun dealers?

Comment by PeoriaPaul Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 7:08 pm
Here we go again, wanting to penalize the honest citizen who may be trying to make a living. Most of the small gun stores probably sell less than 50 guns a year. A novel idea would be to punish the criminals in COOK County. Seems that they have the most problems.

Comment by Roger Wednesday, Apr 25, 18 @ 9:50 pm
Composed and Silent…

Comment by Thomas Hodapp Friday, Apr 27, 18 @ 2:12 am