Chicago Moves Toward Gun Ranges as Permitting Process Encumbers Owners

[RamboLiberal]

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to introduce a new ordinance next week that would allow indoor gun ranges within city limits, MyFoxChicago reports.

Since the Supreme Court ruled last year that city can't block handgun ownership, local residents have had to travel to the suburbs to complete the training required to obtain a Chicago Firearm Permit.

Now, some locals are suing, saying that the ban on gun ranges is illegal because it creates a cost-prohibitive barrier to getting a gun permit.

Only about 3,500 Chicagoans have a permit, though about 100,000 in the city have signed up for the state's Firearm Owner Identification Card.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/03/chicago-moves-toward-gun-ranges-as-permitting-process-encumbers-owners/#ixzz1RGlFE5zF

[Drale]

1. "cost prohibitive barrier?"

Do they realize gun ownership is expensive no matter where you are? Hell I just payed 23 dollar for 100 black powder bullets and thats just the bullets not the powder. I'm willing to bet that the reason he wants gun ranges in Chicago now is because he knows he's losing tax revenue to the suburbs.

[DonP]

2. I don't think Rahm is as "foaming at the mouth" crazy as Daley was

At some point he's going to realize that this is a tide he can't stand against, no matter what kind of connection he may have.

He just watched a bipartisan group in the legislature vote overwhelmingly to ban the release of FOID card information to the public. Shooting ranges will be first, to re-capture some of that revenue leaking out of the city and county. Then at some point, IMO. Rahm, Preckwinkle and Madigan will see the handwriting on the wall for CCW in Illinois and grudgingly let it through the system rather then spend more millions of $ they don't really have fighting it the way Daley did.

[oneshooter]

5. Cheaper to cast your own. n/t

[Drale]

6. Yeah Its something I want to learn to do /nt

[Blown330]

3. I want to hear the gun-control side...

...try and explain this little gem...

“It's going to make our work a little harder because people are going to start looking at it like saying guns are ok, they have a gun range here now and it's ok to just learn how to shoot and that's what we're fighting against every day of the week,” said Hardiman.

So this guy is against gun owners training and learning how to safely use their weapons? Just laughable.

[gejohnston]

8. More evidence that it is all about guns and culture and nothing

about curbing violent crime.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. From where do you draw that opinion

While personal ownership of firearms is not always about self defense, it is a key component, especially in places like Chicago with a long history of rights supression.

[gejohnston]

11. from Cease Fire Chicago

Unless they think gangsters will go to the ranges and get permits, the only conclusion I can get is they don't want legal gun ownership for reasons having nothing to do with crime. The quote lacked the usual hand wringing about blood in the streets.

Hardiman's Cease Fire Chicago has worked online and on the streets for more than a decade to get guns out of Chicago neighborhoods.

“It's going to make our work a little harder because people are going to start looking at it like saying guns are ok, they have a gun range here now and it's ok to just learn how to shoot and that's what we're fighting against every day of the week,” said Hardiman.

[spin]

4. If the citizens in Chicago are allowed to own handguns ...

obviously there needs to be places reasonably nearby where they can learn basic gun safety and proficiency with their weapons.

I love this quote from the article:

It also hasn't pleased opponents of gun ownership. Tio Hardiman, executive director of Cease Fire Chicago, told MyFoxChicago that bringing gun ranges into the city will encourage more people to start shooting.

"That's what we're fighting against every day of the week,” Hardiman said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/03/chicago-moves-toward-gun-ranges-as-permitting-process-encumbers-owners/#ixzz1RGrQBTtl

Informal target shooting with handguns is a rewarding hobby. A handgun is far more challenging to use in real life than is portrayed on TV and the movies. I have enjoyed shooting handguns for over 40 years and have met a lot of good people on the range who loved the sport.

I expected Chicago to place every possible hurdle to owning handguns in the way of any honest citizen who wants to own one. Perhaps I was wrong. Major Daley would have, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel appears to be a far better mayor for Chicago.

[DonP]

7. I think it's just a head fake stall tactic

They want to charge $4000 every two years as a basic fee to get a range license on top of the other city business fees. It must be more than 1000 feet from any school or church and only in industrial areas etc.

Then there will be required insurance and by a strange coincidence one of Daley's brother runs the biggest agency in the city. There will be required inspections, with more fees, by the police and the fire departments.

The regulations for air handling will undoubtedly exceed EPA requirements etc.

But this way they can go to court with the new NRA and ISRA suits they have in their laps and show they are making a "good faith effort" to abide by the MacDonald decision and not run up another $3 million in legal fees.

They will continue to stall until they decide which aldercritter's relative will get the 3 or 4 range permits.

In the meanwhile someone will build a range 20 feet across from the city border in a suburb just happy for the jobs and the sales tax revenue and do just fine.

[Scuba]

9. Try GAT Guns, just north of Elgin. Multiple indoor ranges. Nice guys.

[DonP]

12. No, GAT is a dangerous place to go - for my wallet

Every time I walk in I walk out much, much poorer. Their used rack is like a magnet for me.

Doug and all the guys are very friendly and helpful and they have a great memory.

I was looking for a Marlin Camp Carbine for a couple of years and when one came in they called me, gave me an honest description of the condition and their price and offered to hold it for me. I passed on it and they said they'd keep me on the call list for the next one that came in.

[Scuba]

14. They do have a nice inventory. n/t

[eqfan592]

13. K&R nt