Membership Has Its Privileges

Chicago Alderman Dick Mell forgot to register his guns with the Chicago Police Department this year. He's required to do so under one of the toughest gun laws in the country, a law he helped pass.

Mell first sought to play the "do you know who I am" card, and bully Chicago PD's gun registration division into granting him an exception. They declined (good on them for that).

No problem. Mell has since introduced a new law that would give Chicagoans who forgot to register their guns last year a one-month grace period in which they can re-register without penalty.

Mell helpfully explains:

"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."

By the way, if you move to or live in Chicago, you can forget about buying a handgun like one of those Mell owns. They've been banned since 1982. Mell was grandfathered in. Judge for yourself how well the ban has protected Chicagoans from gun violence.  But hey, at least Mell feels safe.

Comments

Naga Sadow | May 20, 2008, 1:02pm | #

Does it cover, say . . . a Glock I already own?

Libertarian Librarian | May 20, 2008, 1:06pm | #

I was at one time thinking of moving to Chicago for employment reasons (the American Library Association is located there.) But I am having second thoughts.

sixstring | May 20, 2008, 1:08pm | #

And the sound of the battle rang
Through the streets of the old east side
'Til the last of the hoodlum gang
Had surrendered up or died

Episiarch | May 20, 2008, 1:13pm | #

So we have a gun-regulating politician (who gets to have guns because of his power) being ensnared by his own regulations. This would be great except that he's now using that power to sidestep the regulation. So the lesson for him is "good thing I'm powerful" and not "maybe we shouldn't regulate guns so much".

It is at least somewhat positive in that some other people will be able to benefit from this.

The Wine Commonsewer | May 20, 2008, 1:13pm | #

Chicago is......my kind of town, Chicago is......one town that won't let you down.

Sing it, Frankie.

Russ 2000 | May 20, 2008, 1:20pm | #

Judge for yourself how well the ban has protected Chicagoans from gun violence.

Well we haven't had an alderman murdered in quite some time.

♪ | May 20, 2008, 1:22pm | #

If I lived in Chicago, I would totally not vote for that guy.

Jim Bob | May 20, 2008, 1:23pm | #

"I don't break the law. I am the law!"

mediageek | May 20, 2008, 1:24pm | #

What? No C.A.G.E. Units have been dispatched to his house?

Pro Libertate | May 20, 2008, 1:30pm | #

I envision a new HBO series called "The Alderman". It's about a superhero wielding absolute power in Chicago. As an HBO show, it'll have sex and violence in great quantities, whether or not such activities are germane to the plot.

jkp | May 20, 2008, 1:32pm | #

Cool! What we need is someone who can bring this sort of good, old-fashioned Chicago-style common sense to the nation as a whole. Hmm. Who could that be...?

Naga Sadow | May 20, 2008, 1:39pm | #

PL,

"Wielding absolute power in Chicago"? You mean the mafia? I think there was a show like that called the . . . uhmmmm . . . Tenors or something like that.

Pro Libertate | May 20, 2008, 1:43pm | #

The mob comes and goes, but the aldermen are always there. Waiting. Watching. Judging.

LarryA | May 20, 2008, 1:43pm | #

Does it cover, say . . . a Glock I already own?

If you purchased your Glock the year the Austrian army adopted it, 1982 (a year before it was introduced in the U.S.), rushed to Chicago, and registered it that year, and you have reregistered it every year since, then you can keep it in Chicago.

Otherwise, no.

Oh, wait.

I forgot that the army Glocks didn't have the finger grooves Glock added in 1983 to qualify it as an ATF "sporting firearm" for import purposes. Therefore you couldn't have imported it back from Austria in 1982 in time to register it before the Chicago handgun registration cutoff.

So you're SOL.

Hugh Akston | May 20, 2008, 1:45pm | #

"Some people didn't realize that, every year, you have to re-register your guns."

It's not easy to keep up with the new laws, especially if you're the guy voting for them.

Naga Sadow | May 20, 2008, 1:47pm | #

Well then damnit, I'm running as an alderman the moment I move there!

Logfile | May 20, 2008, 1:57pm | #

Breaking News:
Chicago politician turns out to be jackass.

Pro Libertate | May 20, 2008, 2:07pm | #

I wonder if he has aqua powers? That might explain why he needs a gun. Most aldermen just use their superpowers and don't need guns.

ChicagoTom | May 20, 2008, 2:20pm | #

Alderman Mell, by the way, is the father in law of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

I dunno why, but this was my favorite part:

"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.

What's "embarassing" is your belief that it is proper to change the law only because you got caught up in it, douchebag

Pro Libertate | May 20, 2008, 2:23pm | #

Can I change the laws if they are inconvenient to me? I did not know that.

ClubMedSux | May 20, 2008, 2:28pm | #

Alderman Mell, by the way, is the father in law of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

And don't forget that even Mell hates Blago!

It's also worth noting that Mell's other daughter (i.e. the one who's not the state's First Lady) is now running unopposed for state rep. Her qualifications? A culinary degree and a job at the city's largest landscaping company (which surely wasn't thinking of its countless city contracts when it hired her).

Tbone | May 20, 2008, 2:41pm | #

PL, if you know Chicago politics, you know Da Mayor runs the town and the council. The Aldermen/women hold their snifters while Daley rolls the barrels onto the truck.

For more stench and malodor, see also Cook Co. commission.

Fortunately, I'm not in either tax base.

Colin | May 20, 2008, 2:44pm | #

I'll laugh when President Barky takes his guns away pernamently. And I'll laugh even louder when he's a victim of home invasion, unable to defend himself.

ChicagoTom | May 20, 2008, 2:44pm | #

Her qualifications? A culinary degree and a job at the city's largest landscaping company (which surely wasn't thinking of its countless city contracts when it hired her).

That's downright over-qualified, when compared to some of the hires in Stroger's Cook County gov't these days.

ChicagoTom | May 20, 2008, 2:46pm | #

PL, if you know Chicago politics, you know Da Mayor runs the town and the council. The Aldermen/women hold their snifters while Daley rolls the barrels onto the truck.

This is true. Which makes me wonder why the Sun-Times didn't talk to someone from the mayor's office for comment on the legislation.

I can't believe the Daley would be for it, considering how much he hates gun ownership by civilians.

vanya | May 20, 2008, 2:56pm | #

Now, that's my kind of gun control! I keep mine, you all turn yours in. Works for me.

Pro Libertate | May 20, 2008, 3:15pm | #

Oh, I know Chicago all too well. I went to law school there in 1993. Guess who the God-Mayor was then? But aldermen have their own mysterious and unchecked (except by the mayor) powers.

Other Matt | May 20, 2008, 3:30pm | #

Now, that's my kind of gun control! I keep mine, you all turn yours in. Works for me.

That always seems to be the mentality, don't it? This is "Common Sense Gun Control" at its best.

Gilbert Martin | May 20, 2008, 4:19pm | #

"As an HBO show, it'll have sex and violence in great quantities, whether or not such activities are germane to the plot."

Have there been any HBO series when anything other that sex and violence was germane to the plot?

Steve | May 20, 2008, 4:38pm | #

Here's the disturbing story of how gun control came to Chicago.It was pushed through by a "made member" of the Chicago Mob.
ttp://nalert.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicago-democrats-and-chicago-mob.html

R C Dean | May 20, 2008, 5:22pm | #

Mell first sought to play the "do you know who I am" card, and bully Chicago PD's gun registration division into granting him an exception. They declined (good on them for that).

Why hasn't he been arrested, or (at a minimum) had his guns confiscated?

FrBunny | May 20, 2008, 5:24pm | #

In case anyone is still hanging around:

"It's also worth noting that Mell's other daughter (i.e. the one who's not the state's First Lady) is now running unopposed for state rep. Her qualifications? A culinary degree and a job at the city's largest landscaping company..."

Nepotism aside, what "qualifications" does one need to represent the people? We need more former landscapers and fewer "qualified" politicians, says I. Just not THIS former landscaper.

Chris Potter | May 20, 2008, 5:43pm | #

PL, if you know Chicago politics, you know Da Mayor runs the town and the council. The Aldermen/women hold their snifters while Daley rolls the barrels onto the truck.

Wasn't Daley opposed to the now-famous foie gras ban?

Art-P.O.G. | May 20, 2008, 5:52pm | #

Guess who the God-Mayor was then?

Michael Jordan?

JB | May 20, 2008, 6:00pm | #

He should be scared. Politicians should always be scared.

Kwix | May 20, 2008, 8:29pm | #

JB | May 20, 2008, 6:00pm | #
He should be scared. Politicians should always be scared.

QFT

Hugh Akston | May 20, 2008, 11:06pm | #

Why hasn't he been arrested, or (at a minimum) had his guns confiscated?

Because they do know who he is.

ajv | May 21, 2008, 2:41pm | #

How's that gun ban working out for ya, Chicago?
Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta'.

http://reddit.com/goto?rss=true&id=t3_6k4in

Aaron