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Posted on 07/30/2005 4:22:42 PM PDT by Graybeard58
CHICAGO - Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed on Friday legislation that requires background checks on potential firearms buyers at gun shows, closing a loophole police and others contend has been exploited by gangs and other illegal buyers.
Background checks are already required for people buying guns at licensed stores to ensure they don't have a criminal record that would bar them from possessing firearms. The new law, which applies to unlicensed dealers, has long been sought by gun-control advocates and police.
"Today is a step in the right direction," Blagojevich said. "It's a step for sane and commonsense gun laws, gun laws that will protect our communities."
Blagojevich plans to veto a similar measure that would couple gun-show background checks with a requirement that police destroy records of gun purchases after 90 days, his spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.
Republicans and the National Rifle Association backed that proposal.
"No one wants bad people to get firearms, but the problem is, keep-
ing the database in Illinois seems to be not in the gun owners' best interest," said Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.
The NRA and its allies argue that keeping the records is an invasion of privacy and a step toward creating a registry of gun owners.
"We believe that various police departments are going on fishing expeditions, finding out who owns firearms and simply harassing those people," Pearson said.
Law enforcement officials say the records help identify the owners of guns used in crimes.
Several Democratic lawmakers and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, one of the state's most vocal gun-control advocates, attended Friday's bill-signing ceremony and praised the new law.
Daley, who had fought to close the loophole for years without success, said the law "is an example of never, ever giving up on any type of legislation."
But he and Blagojevich said more needs to be done, such as a ban on assault weapons.
Police and gun-control advocates have long maintained that illegal buyers attend gun shows and buy firearms from unlicensed dealers. Illinois ranks in the top 10 among states in the number of gun shows per year, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said.
The law, which takes effect immediately, requires that gun sellers ask the Illinois State Police for background checks on potential purchasers. If the buyer is approved, the sale must take place within 30 days.
What about private transfers?
Unlicensed dealers = Private transfers in the world of the gun grabbing assbat.
According to what I read in Shotgun News, those in Illinois who should have fought this bill rolled over and played dead.
California prohibits private transfers. Firearms sales between private individuals must pass through an FFL and the appropriate background checks must be done on the firearm and buyer.
Idaho doesn't inflict that sort of BS on private party transfers. They also do a lousy job of tracking violent sex offenders, but that's a different problem. Having a CCW in Idaho is compensation for lack of reasonable care in some other areas.
I'll assume that people who actually believe that kind on nonsense will only buy or sell cars through licensed car dealers for the same reasons. Even if they do, these cowards still benefit indirectly from private transactions they don't participate in. Direct private transactions keep wholesale and retail prices closer together than they would be if all transactions were mandated to go through third parties. Just imagine what you would get payed for a used car verses what you have to pay for one if you had to go through used car dealers. If private transactions for any good are mandated to go through only licensed dealers for that commodity, the market will become less efficient, net commerce in that good will decline, and consumers will loose out to the exploitive benefit of the dealers.
The government will also be able to collect them more easily.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Scratch a Liberal...
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
A serb???
Anyways, I guess the scumbag Democrat politicians have just conned a few more votes out of their simpleton base by making them feel safer. And that, of course, is the bottom line.
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