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In their latest attempt to do anything other than crack down on criminals, Chicago Democrats are pushing for a ban on homemade firearms, otherwise known as ghost guns. Illinois State Senator Jacqueline Collins and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart have announced a joint initiative to ban ghost guns, which can be possessed without a background check. They claim that this will help to rescue Chicago from its shooting problem.
Homemade guns blamed for Chicago crime
“Ghost guns” lack serial numbers and can be assembled from parts purchased online, a fact which Collins claims makes them untraceable.
No word on how these untraceable firearms are going to be traced and banned if the proposed bill makes them illegal in the imminent future.
An honor system perhaps? Chicago criminals must have a very strong code of ethics after all; they’re so trustworthy that city authorities don’t even bother to arrest them after they loot stores or shoot local civilians.
Sheriff Dart claims that there is “no lawful reason” for an individual to own a privately made firearm. This hardly seems true; for any number of reasons someone might like to assemble their own firearm.
Privately made guns which are not intended for commercial sale have never been banned under federal law. The process usually takes at least some technical knowledge and it is largely the domain of lawful gun enthusiasts and hobbyists.
Most of the guns used in shootings in Chicago are probably stolen. No one who has called for the ban in Illinois has mentioned the number of shootings in that state which have actually been attributed to ghost guns.
Hardly related to the problem at hand
This seems to be simply an attempt by Illinois Democrats to tell the country that they are doing something about gun violence in Chicago without actually having to do anything.
Is someone who acquires an untraceable firearm for illegal purposes likely to turn it in after hearing that it has become illegal under state law?
The bill is only likely to inconvenience law-abiding gun owners in Illinois and to waste law enforcement resources on something which is statistically a non issue.
One expects that even lawful gun owners who have privately made firearms are likely to find that they’ve lost them all in a tragic boating accident if this bill is passed.
Homemade production of firearms is almost as old as firearms themselves. Much of the new paranoia comes from the fear that 3D printed guns could flood the streets and reach the wrong hands.
In fact, hardly any of the criminals shooting people each week in Chicago are getting their guns this way. Cracking down on crime just makes too much sense to be a serious proposal in Chicago.
