More on the 'Chicago Alderman Loophole'

For those following the sordid saga of the Chicago Alderman Loophole, there have been some new developments.

First, the Chicago City Council website has been updated to include information about the May 14th meeting, so we can now read the ordinance(pdf) as proposed that day. The next city council meeting is next Wednesday (June 11th). The ordinance may be voted on then, and I gather it's expected to pass.

Yesterday, a City Council committee approved the ordinance for a full council vote. The Chicago Tribune had a story about this yesterday.

Ald. Richard Mell got a City Council committee to approve a change to a Chicago law on his behalf Wednesday, but argued it would benefit thousands of other city residents who, like him, simply failed to renew their gun licenses.

"Thousands of other city residents," eh? Apparently, they're sticking to the story that the proposed ordinance is not just a case of Mell exploiting his power as an alderman to grant himself privileges that would never be available to lowly, regular citizens, and that the main reason for this ordinance is to help out "thousands" of Chicago residents who are in a similar situation.

The alderman said Wednesday he was "inundated" with calls from "law-abiding citizens" in the same predicament. Former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris called him to say he was storing a gun in Decatur because he forgot to renew his registration, Mell said. The engraved shotgun was given to Burris by Illinois State Police when Burris left office, the alderman added.

Sorry, but I'm not buying this story about being "inundated" with calls, and "thousands" of people who would benefit from such an ordinance--which would only apply to someone who had attempted to register a firearm (or more than one) from May 1, 2007 to April 1, 2008, and whose registration application was denied solely because it had been submitted too late.

The Trib story also reveals an interesting new twist:

Committee Chairman Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) said he expected another amendment to be drafted that would allow retired police officers to register newly purchased handguns. Federal law allows retired officers to carry concealed weapons, but city ordinance allows them to only re-register their old service revolvers, not new weapons.

Trying to appease the FOP, I guess. Hey, as long as we're helping out the "Only Ones," we might as well do it right.

Oh--one more thing.

Also considered by the committee was a proposal by Ald. Ed Burke (14th) to require anyone convicted of a felony gun offense to be listed for 4 years on a city registry, as is done in New York. The committee delayed action on Burke's proposal.

Why the delay? If Bloomberg likes the idea, it must be good.