Illinois Wants To Ban Squirt Guns?
01-30-06
Representatives Daniel J. Burke and Edward J. Acevedo (both Democrats from Chicago, of course) have decided that squirt guns are dangerous, apparently. Last year, Burke sponsored HB4132 in the Capital, Springfield, IL, which will make "replica" guns illegal in the state.(Introduced 10/20/05)
Here is the synopsis of the bill:
Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that it is unlawful for any person to purchase, possess, use, sell, give away, or otherwise transfer, or to engage in the business of selling, or to exhibit for sale, any replica rocket propelled grenade launcher, bazooka, artillery piece, grenade, mine, bomb, or items similar to weapons designed and manufactured for military purposes or replicas of those items. Provides that a violation is a Class A misdemeanor.
This sweeping and rather ill defined usage of the word "replica" could easily be construed to mean anything that looks like a gun or cannon or a toy made to appear like one from any of the categories listed. That would mean Civil War reenactors with their 1800's style cannons and muskets as well as reenactors of other eras (notably WWII with their more modern firearms) are targeted. For that matter, water guns could become illegal to own, sell and distribute in the state. Even Walmart would be under restrictions for selling toys it should be pointed out.
It also makes one realize that every VFW or other veterans group and numerous City Halls and cemeteries across the state will suddenly be in violation of the law if they happen to have decommissioned military weapons on their properties. Additionally, VFW honor guard units so popular at parades and so sought after for funerals will be considered criminals for having their M-1 rifles made into blank firing devices with which they use to fire salutes at such functions.
Here is the silliness that Leftists such as Burke and Acevedo (who was added as cosponsor on Jan 24th, 2006) create for themselves. Instead of addressing the reasons that gun violence is pervasive in the City of Chicago -- though stats show gun crimes and murders falling from past highs -- these men want to focus on banning toys. They make themselves look like fools with this waste of time because only a gun hating nut would propose a law that would make owning a toy more illegal and dangerous to society than owning an actual, working gun!
One amusing tidbit to the story; Apparently, Representative Linda Chapa LaVia became a cosponsor of the bill sometime on Jan 24th and was almost immediately removed on the same day. I wonder if her constituents found out about this nonsense and pressured her to jump off this ridiculous measure? I hope that was the case, anyway.
The bill has been in the Judiciary (Criminal Law) committee since January 18th after having passed out of the Rules committee. The Judiciary committee has 16 members with 9 Democrats and 7 Republicans. Both the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are Democrats. So, if you are an Illinois 2nd Amendment supporter, member of the VFW, or a reenactor, I'd suggest contacting them soon, before they allow their ideological bias to win them over to passing this thing out of committee and to a floor vote.
Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee - Members List
By Warner Todd Huston
Warner Todd Huston's thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as townhall.com, opinioneditorials.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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