Chicago Alderman Loophole--additional thoughts

In an update to yesterday's post about the Chicago Alderman Loophole, I noted that Mayor Daley, in what might seem at fist glance to be a surprising departure from his rabidly anti-freedom, anti-self-defense stance, welcomes Alderman Mell's proposed ordinance. The reason for his support, supposedly, is "to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago." Like Mr. Codrea, I am more than a little skeptical.

For one thing, the only guns that this ordinance would open up for registration are those that someone attempted to register between May 1, 2007, and April 1 (April Fool's Day--how appropriate), 2008. Even among those, the only ones this ordinance would make eligible for registration are those that were denied because the registration application was submitted too late. In other words, only a minuscule fraction of the unregistered (and thus illegal) guns in Chicago would become "registerable," and that doesn't count the vast number of guns in Chicago owned by people who, by virtue of their criminal records, cannot legally own firearms under state or federal law.

Sounds to me as if Daley is on a fishing expedition. Could an attempt to register a firearm that would be, even under this proposed ordinance, be impossible to register (and thus illegal to own in Chicago) constitute probable cause for a search warrant? I would hope not, but I wouldn't bet against it in Chicago.

I would suggest that anyone who wants to "take advantage" (Ha!) of this ordinance (assuming it passes) be extremely careful.