Chicago Makes It a Little Harder for You to Own a Gun--Unless You are a Cop

One more part of the general trend in attempts to make gun ownership or purchasing just a little bit more expensive or annoying on the margin, since, darn it, they can't seem to ban them entirely, this time out of Chicago, as reported by CBS Chicago:

a new $25-per-gun tax in Cook County went into effect on Monday.

WBBM Newsradio's Nancy Harty reports the new gun tax is estimated to generate $600,000 a year for Cook County. The gun tax ordinance includes an exemption for law enforcement officers who purchase guns in the county…..

Another bureaucratic measure making gun ownership a potentially huge legal burden for the innocent:

The county also has targeted straw purchasers – people who buy guns legally, then sell them to others who can't – by imposing fines of up to $2,000 for failing to report the transfer, loss, or theft of a gun.

Unsuccessful lawsuits tried to block the tax, which proponents admitted was partially aimed at limiting the number of guns in circulation, admitting a Second Amendment-violating goal, not just a revenue one.

I wrote for Reason back in 2010 the detailed history of the Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago, in which it was established that indeed they could not ban them entirely.

Comments

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Maybe they should start charging a search warrant tax if a homeowner demands one before police enter.

[Rich]

Please stop giving them ideas.

[Ron]

A tax to exercise a constitutional right is unconstitutional.Shall we now start having poll taxes on voters again. Shall we also tax the free press or my right to assemble or any of the other rights gauranted by the constitution. A tax is an infringement on my ability to be secure in my person and to bear arms for an unloaded gun is not armed.
I could go on about the many ways that this is wrong but I'm sure others are thinking along similar lines

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I remember when having to show ID to vote was ushering in a new era of Jim Crow.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

You are exhibiting a pre-Sandy Hook mentality.

[Anonymous Coward]

Voting has never killed anyone, anywhere. Guns are killy-death-mc...

I can't even type out sarcasm right now. Fuck this jugeared tyrant, fuck these political props who would curb our right to self-defense to make themselves feel better, and fuck Barry's lapdog servants in the media.

[Ron]

to further the sarcasm the left often said that voting for Bush was voting for Murder so voting can kill if your a libtard

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Since you already can't buy a legal gun anywhere in Chicago, and it's not like leaving the county is any harder than leaving the city, this is truly, mindblowingly stupid. And not remotely surprising.

[Francisco d Anconia]

in?fringe Verb /in?frinj/

Synonyms:
verb: violate, transgress, break, contravene, trespass, invade

infringes 3rd person singular present; infringing present participle; infringed past tense; infringed past participle

1. Actively break the terms of (a law, agreement, etc.)

2 Act so as to limit or undermine (something); encroach on

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Sadly, this is the least of the infringements anyone wanting a gun in Chicago has to deal with.

[Virginian]

Uh, you mean the least of infringements for anyone buying legally, right?

Because getting a gun in Chicago would probably take me about an hour.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Yes. An hour sounds pretty long, though it would take me a while to get to the southwest side I guess.

[LTC(ret) John]

"Welcome to 55th and Federal, where we can serve all your firearms needs".

whachyoo want?

[The Late P Brooks]

a new $25-per-gun tax in Cook County went into effect on Monday.

Pure genius. When all those illegal gun owners send in their tax payment, the SWATters will have a handy list of addresses.

[The Late P Brooks]

An hour sounds pretty long, though it would take me a while to get to the southwest side I guess.

Why bother driving around? Just buy one over the intertubes. It's exactly the same as buying a CD, or a funny t-shirt.

That's what they tell me.

[Virginian]

Fuck those sniveling nancies and their pants shitting hysteria. It's like those assholes who blame the free market for the problems caused by their socialist Leviathan.

I wish I could order guns on the Internet.

[Rich]

Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden (D-Baltimore) said ... "you can get a gun quicker than you get an apple or an orange in my community."

[Virginian]

If I lived in Bodymore, I know which I'd rather have on my person at all times.

[LTC(ret) John]

An Assault Apple? Semi-automatic Orange?

[Ted S.]

So food deserts are wicked, but gun deserts are virtuous.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The impression I get from the article is that this isn't a sales tax, it's a tax on possession. Am I reading it wrong?

What's the penalty for non-payment? Are they going to start Al-Caponing people?

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

It's a sales tax. For people in the city, there is already a separate tax on possession, though they call it a registration fee. And that's on top of the tax...I mean fee...to get a FOID.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So what's the goal here? To drive all legal sales out just past the edge of the jurisdiction so you lose whatever sales tax they're getting now? It's almost like the goal isn't about gun violence at all.

Is going to Cubs games or whatever else people do in Chicago really worth dealing with these clowns?

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Their goal, which they have openly stated, is to reduce the sale of guns. I can't imagine there are many legal gun sales happening in Cook County as it is--for one thing, there are hardly any places to buy them, and for another, Cook County already has its own sales tax and sales of all sorts of things have already been pushed over county lines for years. For relatively high-ticket items like guns, it's already a major factor. The store I go to just over the county line has a giant sign, "No Cook County Sales Tax," and that's been there since before Preckwinkle ever thought this business up.

Cubs games actually make things worse, but until I get my Wyoming hermit compound plan together it's cities for me, and this is definitely better than NYC or LA. We have low income taxes at least! (Look, I'm pushing for a move to NH, but someone likes VT better and his family is here too.)

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Texas has cities, no income tax, and better gun laws. VT has better cheese and fall color, though. NH looks like VT rotated 180 degrees, which is pretty cool, I guess.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

TX is too hot for me. I start melting here by May.

[Virginian]

The Midwest has the worst weather. Southern summers and Northern winters.

Freaking DC is the same way.

[Gray Ghost]

The summer weather in Houston is no picnic, for sure, but are Texas summers that much hotter than Chicago? And we treat snow here as a weird, rare novelty.

Seriously, as much as I like visiting Chicago (and deep-dish), after reading things like that MagMile mob and Chicago PD's non-response to it, fuck that place.

[LTC(ret) John]

We love it!

Sincerely,
Kane County gun dealers

[Atanarjuat]

You don't own property guns, you just rent it them from the government.

[Raston Bot]

Can someone explain to me the appeal of Chicago?

cold ass weather - check
corrupt local govt - check
high income taxes - check
gun laws - check
no skiing - check

You didn't even have Bell's beer until their old distributor went out of business a couple years ago and Bell's could get around the franchise termination law.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

We don't have high income taxes, at least not compared to other places I've lived. And it's the hot-ass weather that's a problem, not the cold 😉

[Raston Bot]

I guess 5% (recently bumped from 3%) is not the highest income tax in the country. If you can operate a delimber, then you would find Maine most lucrative.

[Virginian]

Shit that's lower then VA's.

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Yeah, I don't love it, but it's not high as income taxes go.

[LTC(ret) John]

Mind the 9.75% sales taxes, tho'?

[Ted S.]

6.85% in NY until you get to $200K.

[Agammamon]

"And it's the hot-ass weather that's a problem, not the cold ;)"

Oh you are soooo wrong - I'd much rather be able to run around in shorts and a t-shirt all year long than have to dress like Kenny from South Park for 3-4 months at a time.

Of course, that's a huge part of why I chose to live the southwest in the first place.

[derpules]

lots of ass

[The Late P Brooks]

So what's the goal here?

We're all felons, now."

[DJK]

Help me figure out what's going on here? They expect to generate $600k a year on $25 fees? That's 24k guns per year in a county with 5M people in it. If people only buy one gun, that means fewer than 0.5% of all the county's residents will purchase a gun in a given year. That seems like a ridiculously low number to me...where are all the rest of the guns going? Out of county purchases? Mass refusal to comply with the law?

[Shine on, Nikki Diamond]

Out of county purchases? Mass refusal to comply with the law?

Yes.

[generic Brand]

Can't wait to get there in August!

/truth

[Sigivald]

The county also has targeted straw purchasers ? people who buy guns legally, then sell them to others who can't ? by imposing fines of up to $2,000 for failing to report the transfer, loss, or theft of a gun.

Someone should tell them that a straw purchase is already a Federal felony - even if the person you're purchasing for isn't a prohibited person.

And that having your gun stolen or lost is not a straw purchase; it might well be a lie that a straw purchaser uses to try and cover up their illegal act, but ... my impression from actual data is that they never fool anybody with that crap, at least not if they're doing it more than once. Which is exactly what a gang gun-runner does.

(Nor is a transfer a straw purchase, though at least a straw purchase does involve a transfer, so they're getting closer.

If I give my mom a rifle, that's a "transfer". I guess not reporting that is so horrible it should deserve a $2k fine, right?)