Chicago's War On Guns

Say Uncle has this post about a guy arrested for having arms. There was also a dig thrown in about the ATFU's old fallback - "attempting" to convert a semi to full auto as well as allegations of having a short barreled shotgun.

Here's the article in question. Registration required (I recommend Bugmenot.com). The story is a 63 year old man was suspected of selling arms in Chicago. 300 weapons were found at his home. A cop who seems to not know his ass from a hole in a barrel alleges that one was a short barreled shotgun. From the article's description it was a "pistol designed to fire shotgun shells". I assume that's paraphrasing from the cop in question. In any case it could be a short barreled shotgun or a .45 Long Colt that will also take .410 shotgun shells.

To list a few examples Magnum Research makes the BFR which is a revolver that can be had in .45 Long Colt & will also take .410 shotgun shells. American Derringer makes (of all things) a derringer called the Model 1 in .45 LC/.410 as does Bond Arms. A company makes a 5 shot revolver called the Thunder 5 which is chambered in .45 LC/.410. The T/C G2 Contender is a single shot pistol that has a .45LC/.410 barrel as an option. There are a few others that I didn't list here chambered for .45 LC/.410

The barrels in all of the above have rifling, hence the ATFU doesn't consider it to be a shotgun. The NFA doesn't apply since they are all pistols, not short barreled shotguns. In other words they're even legal to own in Illinois (unless some fool passed legislation prohibiting them like what seems to be the case in California).

Anyway he's being charged with nothing right now. They’re holding him on suspicion of selling guns sans license & not having his papers in order (Chicago requires gun registration & Illinois requires gun owner registration).

"Police allege the man was trying to convert the semi-automatic machine gun to fully automatic, a violation of federal law."

I won't put money on whether it was the reporter who wrote "semi-automatic machine gun" or the Einstein wannabe with a badge.

The same dumbass with a badge claims that an AR-15 is purely a military rifle & no use at all for hunting. I disagree. In fact I'd argue the opposite - that it's not a great military weapon but could be useful for varmints. But the point is that this cop has a noticeable bias against firearms, coupled with an ignorance of their workings & use.

FYI the idiot with a badge I'm talking about is Lt. Stephen Glombicki who is in charge of the Calumet Area gun unit.

Gun cops. Yet another reason Chicago can go to hell.

"He said officers received a tip last week that the man was selling weapons from his house. They monitored the man's home and saw several people come and go from the residence over a period of four days."

Ratted out again it seems. I would lay money on the idea that someone was pissed at him & knew he had arms in his home, & decided to use the cops to get even with him.

But come on - how many of you who read this blog have had "several" people come & go from your house in the last 4 days? if a person has friends that means he's breaking some law?

& even if this guy was selling guns, so friggin what? Yes; I know it's against federal law to sell guns without a license & against Illinois & probably Chicago law as well. I don't care. I never particularly thought of the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 as being a good or even constitutionally acceptable idea. Likewise I wasn't happy about it being repealed then reinserted into the Gun Control Act of 68. If they'd have just repealed it I'd have been fine.

But in Illinois getting a firearm requires governmental permission. It's even tougher to get that same condonement in Chicago. If I lived there I'd either be selling arms or buying them from someone who did. & I'd be damned if I'd beg for government permission or pay a bribe for either transaction. I see nothing immoral about ignoring laws that impede upon an inherent right. & yes; I see owning the means of defense as an inherent right, along with the complete ownership of your own property.

"They will also perform ballistics tests to determine if any of the weapons have been used in a crime."

Good luck with that.

Now the local gun gestapo has an arsenal they can brag about stealing, & an old man they can boast they kidnapped. The press reports it as another dangerous criminal off the streets, some punk is gloating over the score he settled by ratting out an old man & few except old gun nuts such as myself see how wrong the whole situation is.

Gun cops. In America. I hope the Adams boys are concentrating on more celestial matters. I know it'd pain them to see how far we've fallen since they supported our war for independence. You know - the one that got really rolling when we shot gun cops as they were coming to steal our arms? Hopefully they're resting in peace & not seeing the chains resting upon us not so lightly.

Posted by Publicola at February 24, 2006 06:48 AM | TrackBack