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Oh, shoot! (Chicago alderman changes gun law to void his violation)
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | May 20, 2008 | FRAN SPIELMAN

Posted on 05/20/2008 5:19:13 PM PDT by decimon

Ald. Richard Mell forgot to re-register his guns (which reportedly include a Walther PPK like this one). No problem -- he'll just write a new law.

(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; chicago; democratparty; democrats; ratcrime; secondamendment

1 posted on 05/20/2008 5:19:13 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Nice move, Dick....


2 posted on 05/20/2008 5:22:02 PM PDT by pointsal
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To: pointsal

Now you know how his son-in-law, Governor Blagojevich, got his ethics.


3 posted on 05/20/2008 5:24:13 PM PDT by guinnessman
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To: decimon

“Re-register”????

Ha!!!

None of their damn business in the first place!

That’s the line of crap they fed gun owners in New York, just before they outlawed them!


4 posted on 05/20/2008 5:24:47 PM PDT by G Larry (HILLARY CARE = DYING IN LINE!)
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To: decimon
Pardon me! Is this legal? I thought the Constitution prohibited ex post facto laws.
5 posted on 05/20/2008 5:27:58 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (1984 was supposed to be a warning not an instruction manual! ©)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Pardon me! Is this legal? I thought the Constitution prohibited ex post facto laws.

You never heard of grandfathering? Yeah, that's it, grandfathering.

6 posted on 05/20/2008 5:32:24 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Richard Mell is his own grandfather? ;-)


7 posted on 05/20/2008 5:44:23 PM PDT by an amused spectator (Spitzer would have used the Mann Act against an enemy in a New York minute.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
I thought the Constitution prohibited ex post facto laws.

Man, like - the Constitution is like, so, yesterday!

8 posted on 05/20/2008 5:45:21 PM PDT by an amused spectator (Spitzer would have used the Mann Act against an enemy in a New York minute.)
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To: an amused spectator
Richard Mell is his own grandfather? ;-)

He will be once he's changed the law.

9 posted on 05/20/2008 5:53:44 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon
I may need this someday, so I'm posting it in its entirety. The Sun Times does not need to be excerpted, and I can't afford the link to go dead.

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) is a former hunter with an arsenal of weapons that reportedly features shotguns, rifles and pistols, including a Walther PPK of James Bond fame.

But there's a problem.

Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass as one of the City Council's most senior members.

So, what does an alderman do when he finds himself in violation of the law? He writes a new law. Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.

During the monthlong window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007, and April 1, 2008, only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.

"It's not just for me. It's for other people with the same problem. It's giving people who legitimately registered their guns at one time only to let it slip by a chance to come back into compliance," Mell said. "Some people didn't realize that, every year, you have to re-register your guns."

As an aldermen who helps write Chicago's gun laws, Mell acknowledged that he should have been in compliance with the re-registration requirement.

"I knew it was the law. I thought it was being done [by a staff member]. If you have a person you trust to do it and they don't do it, then it doesn't get done. I'm not gonna say it's embarrassing. I'm just gonna say I should have done it," the alderman said.

Mell said he first realized he was in violation of the re-registration requirement about a year ago. When he tried to re-register his guns belatedly, the Chicago Police Department's Gun Registration Section refused to bend the rules. Mell appealed that ruling to the city's Department of Administrative Hearings but decided to re-write the law instead."When we looked at the law, we saw the possibility of winning [the appeal] wasn't gonna happen," he said.


10 posted on 05/20/2008 5:55:35 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: G Larry
That’s the line of crap they fed gun owners in New York, just before they outlawed them!

Which weapons were outlawed by NY besides so called "assault weapons" like the AR-15?

11 posted on 05/20/2008 5:58:03 PM PDT by neverdem (I'm praying for a Divine Intervention.)
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To: 1rudeboy
The Sun Times does not need to be excerpted...

Thanks. I can't keep up with what must be excerpted so it's safer to just do it.

12 posted on 05/20/2008 6:01:12 PM PDT by decimon
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To: 1rudeboy
“When we looked at the law, we saw the possibility of winning [the appeal] wasn't gonna happen,” he said.

Wow. The hubris.

A gun owner of a special sort, I guess.

Why not introduce a law to repeal your asinine anti-Second Amendment regulations.

13 posted on 05/20/2008 6:01:13 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: Jet Jaguar
Why not introduce a law to repeal your asinine anti-Second Amendment regulations.

Were there any justice, this would serve as legal precedent for other Chicagoans up on gun charges.

14 posted on 05/20/2008 6:06:53 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon; Squantos

Absolutely.


15 posted on 05/20/2008 6:09:31 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: Paleo Conservative

They don’t need no steeking constitution!


16 posted on 05/20/2008 6:11:14 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

They don’t need no steenking constitution!


17 posted on 05/20/2008 6:11:21 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: decimon; DMZFrank; endthematrix; Chgogal; NotJustAnotherPrettyFace; Lawgvr1955; Petruchio; ...
State needs concealed carry law, not county
18 posted on 05/20/2008 6:11:34 PM PDT by neverdem (I'm praying for a Divine Intervention.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Pardon me! Is this legal? I thought the Constitution prohibited ex post facto laws.

I think because this LOOSENS the law it is Constitutional.

Not that many care about the Constitutionally of laws around here any more.

19 posted on 05/20/2008 6:37:16 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (OVERPRODUCTION......... one of the top five worries for American farmers.)
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To: decimon
"Some people didn't realize that, every year, you have to re-register your guns."

Not in The Old Dominion!

20 posted on 05/20/2008 7:14:02 PM PDT by JOE6PAK (My own business bores me to death; I prefer other people's.)
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To: neverdem
To qualify for a permit, I'd want people to be American citizens without significant criminal records, and I'd require them to take and pass a firearms training course.

They‘d have to take refresher courses in gun safety every three years. Their names would be on a statewide, searchable database and their driver's licenses would indicate that they were permitted to carry concealed weapons. I'd be pretty strict about it.


Reach Political Editor Chuck Sweeny at 815-987-1372 or csweeny@rrstar.com.

I'd like writers and editors to have to take a course on objectivity. They'd also have to be married and a home owner.

I'd require them to take and pass a course on the U.S Constitution and write a dissertation on why the 1st Amendment has no encumbrances but according to MSM, The 2nd Amendment must and should have a bazillion encumbrances. Remember, you have to prove your work.

After three years, they'd have to take a refresher course on the Constitution and American History and write 100 times on the black board: "I can't believe I was such an ass".


21 posted on 05/20/2008 7:39:28 PM PDT by stylin19a
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To: decimon

bump


22 posted on 05/20/2008 8:23:10 PM PDT by lowbridge ("I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it" - Van Den Boogaard)
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To: neverdem

Ah...now you’re going to make me do some homework.

I “think” New York City involked registration just a few years before effectively confiscating (outlawing) rifles and shotguns.


23 posted on 05/20/2008 9:16:53 PM PDT by G Larry (HILLARY CARE = DYING IN LINE!)
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To: neverdem

Google “Sullivan Laws”.


24 posted on 05/20/2008 9:24:24 PM PDT by brityank (The more I learn about the Constitution, the more I realise this Government is UNconstitutional !!)
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To: neverdem

New York State laws for Rifles and Shotguns
Permit to Purchase No*
Registration of Firearms No*
Licensing of Owners No*
Permit to Carry No*
* Except in New York City

That * means “Don’t bother asking in NYC.


25 posted on 05/20/2008 9:33:52 PM PDT by G Larry (HILLARY CARE = DYING IN LINE!)
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To: G Larry
I “think” New York City involked registration just a few years before effectively confiscating (outlawing) rifles and shotguns.

http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/

NYC wants registration of long guns, and a permit for simple possession of handguns, IIRC. Concealed carry is may issue in the rest of the state. In NYC, you have to demonstrate need to the NYPD for concealed carry. They all cost money.

Long gun registration started in the 1960s in NYC. So when the city decided to ban "assault weapons," people who had AR-15s, etc. had notice to sell them or surrender them. IIRC, there was one holdout on Staten Island who refused, but then surrendered when his house was surrounded by cops.

26 posted on 05/20/2008 9:37:33 PM PDT by neverdem (I'm praying for a Divine Intervention.)
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To: G Larry; neverdem

In New York, you need a PERMIT TO OWN a handgun. On top of that, carry permits are handled on a county to county basis, with many counties not recognizing permits issued in other counties.


27 posted on 05/20/2008 9:37:52 PM PDT by Clemenza (Why do I Find Myself Attracted to Amy Winehouse?)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Pardon me! Is this legal? I thought the Constitution prohibited ex post facto laws.

That only applies when it doesn't involve guns, booze, tobacco, ribeyes, Twinkies or anything else that the peasants might enjoy.

The ruling class create exceptions only when they get caught up in their own B.S.

28 posted on 05/20/2008 9:43:25 PM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: decimon

I’m just a dumb hick here in Pa clinging to my guns and religion, but could someone please tell me what an “Alderman” is? Chicago seems to have some screwey job titles over there. I’m still trying to figure out Obama’s old job of “Community Organizer”. If anyone knows what that is I would appreciate you letting me know. I am serious by the way. We don’t have these jobs here.

In the meantime, since he apparently was the one who pushed for these laws, I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Cuff him and send him to the clink. Let him pay a lot of money to get out and prove his innocence. It could not happen to a nicer elitest snob...


29 posted on 05/21/2008 9:51:38 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: decimon

He’s a gun criminal. Send him to prison forever.

Not really.


30 posted on 05/21/2008 9:54:05 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Old Teufel Hunden

An alderman in Chicago is what we in New York would call a councilman. An elected municipal representative.

But it’s an old English term and might mean different things in different places. Alderman = elder man. We elder men are wise, you know. :-)


31 posted on 05/21/2008 11:18:54 AM PDT by decimon
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To: an amused spectator

LOL

Like the 2nd amendment applies in Illinois


32 posted on 05/21/2008 12:04:51 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: 1rudeboy

Strange, I did not know that a staff member, not being said owner of said guns could register said guns for second party.

I thought said owner had to register guns.

But then again Mell is democrat, they make up rules to benefit themselves as they go.

Must be nice to be a democrat. ////// sarcastic comment


33 posted on 05/21/2008 12:09:41 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: Old Teufel Hunden

aldrman = patronage hack

Is an example of the Peter principle, one who has exceeded his station in life.
One who will make everyone else life miserable to further his political career and enhance his personal fortunes on the backs of those who elect him/her.

An example of democrat politics, provide for me and I will give you scraps while determining what you can and cannot do, while thos same rules do not apply to me.


34 posted on 05/21/2008 12:17:51 PM PDT by Nailbiter
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To: decimon

That’s what we call them here. Councilman. Now I understand. You wouldn’t happen to know what a community organizer is. It sounds to me like a job they did in the Soviet Union, not the U.S.A


35 posted on 05/21/2008 12:41:51 PM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Nailbiter

Gotcha, and thanks.

I just got into a long e-mail exchange with a “progressive” that I know. Anyways, what was funny was how he tried to link the founding fathers to being progressives.

I still can’t understand how you can equate people who believed in the natural rights of man to being statist/socialists/progressives. There’s a lot of stretching going on there!


36 posted on 05/21/2008 12:45:46 PM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Old Teufel Hunden

A community organizer is someone who draws a crowd behind him when there are TV news cameras around. The crowd gets their mugs on TV and the organizer gets to claim the crowd as supporters. Something like that.


37 posted on 05/21/2008 12:52:42 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

If you’re being serious, then he’s still doing it. I saw in another thread that huge crowd he had up in Oregon was actually there for a concert and his campaign had him make an appearance after the concert. I noticed how no news outlet (not even Fox) ever mentioned this little fact.


38 posted on 05/22/2008 4:20:15 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Old Teufel Hunden
If you’re being serious...

Semi-serious. Much of politics is just theater.

39 posted on 05/22/2008 4:27:57 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon
Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass

So, everybody in Chicago has to register their guns every year or else - and if they don't... they can't - and there is no appeal (except for Helpful Mel's new 30 day extension law).

Did I read that right? Then what? Are the guns confiscated? What are the criminal penalties for all these formerly law-abiding citizens if they don't re-register?

Chicago is a are gun control fascist's dreamland (see my tag line).

40 posted on 05/22/2008 6:28:45 AM PDT by Gritty (I don't believe that people should be able to own guns-Barack Obama response to John Lott, 1996)
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