What’s A Few Jobs

In a state with an official unemployment rate of 9.0% for January, losing a few more jobs doesn’t seem to concern Chicago Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly. That is, if they are in the firearms manufacturing industry.

Rep. Edward J. Acevedo (D-Chicago) has introduced bills to ban semi-automatic firearms with certain characteristics and .50 caliber rifles in the past and failed. This year he re-introduced the bill, HB 1294, and it passed out the House Judiciary I – Civil Law Committee yesterday with a “Do Pass – Standard Debate” recommendation.

The synopsis of the bills states that:

it is unlawful for any person within this State to knowingly manufacture, deliver, sell, purchase, or possess or cause to be manufactured, delivered, sold, purchased, or possessed a semi-automatic assault weapon, an assault weapon attachment, any .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge.

The bill would grandfather in any of the affected firearms possessed prior to the effective date. It would allow any previously possessed firearms in question to be passed to heirs, to a person in another state, or to an FFL. As might be expected for a bill introduced by a former police officer, nothing in the bill would prevent law enforcement from possessing any of the weapons in question regardless of their date of manufacture.

The definitions in the bill read like they were taken verbatim from the Cook County’s Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban.

I have read the bill over and over. I come to the same conclusion each time – it would apply to the production of firearms manufacturers that make weapons that come under the purview of this bill unless they sold only to law enforcement, game wardens, and the military. The way the bill reads, only those weapons that are grandfathered may be sold to a FFL or out of state.

Illinois has a number of firearms manufacturers that would essentially have to move to remain in business. They include Springfield Armory and ArmaLite in Geneseo, Rock River Arms in Colona, Lewis Machine and Tool in Milan, DSArms in Barrington, and Detonics Defense in Millstadt. Les Baer moved his operations out of Illinois to Iowa a couple of years ago due to the anti-gun climate of the state. With the exception of DSArms and Detonics Defense, most of the manufacturers are clustered in the Quad Cities metro area which is also the location of the Rock Island Armory.

I guess that if you live in the Quad Cities or anywhere outside of Chicago, politicians there don’t give a damn if you lose your job so long as they can continue to make Mayor Daley happy. What sad state of affairs.
Illinois HB 1294