Just four days after the Supreme Court essentially struck down the City of Chicago’s draconian handgun ban as unconstitutional, the City Council unanimously approved a tough new gun-control regime — the strictest in the nation, actually. The new rules went into effect on July 12. But they are already being challenged in court.

The “Responsible Gun Ownership Ordinance,” introduced by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, purports to require city-issued “permits,” registration, and special training for residents who wish to own guns. It will also limit the number of handguns eligible residents may purchase to one per month.

Under the new rules, only one operable weapon per household is allowed. Handguns are forbidden outside of the home (including in garages, back yards, or on porches) and must be transported broken down and in a case. They cannot be sold within city limits, and only a list of “safe” guns drawn up by the police superintendent will be permitted.

Aldermen (city councilors) generally agreed with the Mayor’s anti-gun crusade, as evidenced by the 45-0 vote in favor of the new set of rules. Many Aldermen quoted in media reports expressed outrage that the High Court struck down the city’s ban in the recent 5-4 McDonald v. City of Chicago ruling.

Those favoring strict control measures like Chicago’s claim that gun ownership leads to increases in crime. Empirical evidence suggests the opposite is true. After the Supreme Court struck down Washington, D.C.’s draconian gun rules in 2008, the city experienced a 30-percent decrease in murder rates, explained John Lott, Jr., author of More Guns, Less Crime and one of the world’s foremost experts on the relationship between guns, gun control, and crime.

Because of the new restrictive rules, “I assume that relatively few people are going to register handguns in Chicago and as such I think that the change in the law will have a relatively small impact on crime rates,” Lott told The New American. “The regulations go as far towards banning guns as Chicago thinks that they can go,” he said, adding that the rules will disarm the poorest citizens, “who are most likely to be victims of crime.”

But at least two major lawsuits against the city’s new ordinance are already in progress, and more are anticipated in the near future. Joe Franzese, for example, owner of Second Amendment Arms in nearby Lake Villa, filed suit because he wants to open as many as five gun shops in Chicago. But the ordinance prohibits it. “I want to sell a legal product and you can’t outlaw a legal product,” he told the Libertyville Review.

In the lawsuit, Franzese attacks the new law from multiple angles: “By banning gun shops and the sale [of] handguns, Chicago and Mayor Daley currently maintain and actively enforce a set of laws, customs, practices and policies under color of state law which deprive individuals, including the plaintiffs, of their right to keep and bear arms, and engage in commerce by selling them, lawful products, in violation of the Second and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution.”

Another lawsuit challenging the new rules was filed by four Chicago residents who want to bear arms, and the non-profit Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers, which says some of its members want to operate gun stores and shooting ranges in the city. The plaintiffs, backed by the National Rifle Association, hope to have the restrictive regulations struck down because they violate constitutionally protected rights.

Attorney Stephen Holbrook, who serves as outside counsel to the NRA and worked on the McDonald case, said the city was basically flaunting the Supreme Court’s decision. “But if the courts take the Second Amendment seriously, the chances are good” that Chicago’s new ordinance will be struck down, he told The New American.

Gun Owners of America, widely regarded as the nation’s fiercest and most principled defender of gun rights, also attacked the ordinance. “Obviously these policies are a failure; they don’t protect the people,” Executive Director Larry Pratt told The New American, pointing to gun-crime statistics and highlighting the fact that Aldermen are allowed to carry weapons. “Crime will remain high in Chicago because many law-abiding people are going to be daunted by the new law,” he said, predicting that the restrictions could end up back at the Supreme Court.

Potential outcomes from legal challenges remain very much uncertain, since the Supreme Court ruled that “reasonable restrictions” were still permissible under the Second Amendment. Just what exactly “reasonable” means is hard to know, but it will likely determine whether Chicago’s new ordinance is upheld.

“The right to keep and bear arms is not ‘a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,’” claimed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the majority opinion rejecting Chicago’s outright ban.

How that wording will be interpreted by the courts remains to be seen, but it will surely have serious implications for state and local gun laws across the country, many of which are already coming under fire after the court’s ruling.

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Plain Old American said:

Obvious Failure Obviously Mayor Daley doesn't care at all about the law abiding citizens of Chicago. The other obvious fact is that the Crips, Latin Kings and The Bloods don't follow the law. Therefore the conclusion can only be the Mayor Daley and the Chicago City Council are controlled by the gangs. Chicago is no place for a free man or an intelligent voter.

August 03, 2010

Flu-Bird said:

Chicago crime So apparantly the imperial city council and mayor of CHICAGO think that the U.S. COSTITUTION dont mean a thing becuase their all members of the privlaged wealthy bunch of arstacratic types but since CHICAGO is still a american city they had better learn were still a republic and not a monarcy

August 03, 2010

Richard Robinson said:

Communists When will those anti-Americans give up in Chicago? Anybody who hates a person's god given right to self defense and is anti-2nd Amendment is anti-American.

August 03, 2010

K.L. Prilson said:

... I've said it before and I'll say it again: the blood of every dead Chicagoan who could have defended themselves is on the hands of King Daley and his minions. These guys should be in jail, not ruling an American city like tyrants.

August 03, 2010

Dr., Lowly rated comment [Show]

R Jensen said:

Experiment "Please expand on this so called "Empirical evidence" instead of just stating a lie like it's a fact please." Why not gather your own evidence? Take some dollar bills and paste them to your body. Then at 2am, go walk down one of the streets in Chicago's south side. Record your observations. Then, repeat the experiment, but somewhere where gun owners are not harassed, Nappannee Indiana for example. Note the differences in the outcomes of the two experiments.

August 03, 2010

Newman said:

... See this exhaustive book by John Lott Jr entitled 'More Guns, Less Crime': http://books.google.se/books?id=j6cMYKRgqQ8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=John+Lott+Jr+More+guns+less+crime&source=bl&ots=_2fRZd01cO&sig=7ImWAooDoC8KfMcb9OxLqmR-JLw&hl=sv&ei=wDFYTL79FNC6OMvC5J8J&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

August 03, 2010

JimmyC said:

Chicago’s New Gun-control Regime Challenged in Court Please help me understand. If Daley and others work to deny American citizens their constitutional rights, why are they not charged and sent to jail. It is time to hold these criminals responsible for their actions. If you or I worked to deny another citizen any of the rights outlined in the Bill of Rignts, we would be charged and jailed. Why not the polititions?

August 04, 2010 | url

Frank said:

Scary times With Sotomayor voting against the latest Supereme Court decision and now Kagan it is a VERY scary time for the 2nd Amendment as well as the 1st.

August 05, 2010

Michael Gugino said:

Why let the government decide? Why let the Supreme Court decide this anyway? Why let any law decide this? In America, the people have the supreme power through: The Jury of Your Peers. There needs to be more awareness about Jury nullifcation in this country, that's the only thing that will stop laws like these.

August 06, 2010

Brandon said:

I agree with MIchael Just say no!

August 06, 2010 | url

Kirk Patrick said:

From my cold dead hands Amazing to think you could find 45 numbskulls on once city council. 45-0 in favor of tyranny while about 44 out of 45 people on this comment board support the second amendment.

August 06, 2010

cashtradr said:

Chicago Gun Law Daley is a prime example of the desperate need for term limits. This guy has ruined the city in which I grew up as a result of pandering to special interests. But beyond that, his latest policy further endangers law abiding citizens who, given the ability to exercise their rights and some credit for the ability to exercise reason - the latter on which City Hall seems quite short - could actually aid the police whose lives are on the line each and everyday in what has become the wild (mid)west. Daley cares no more about citizens' safety than he cares about making the top ten list of great orators. This guy needs to go before he does any more damage.

August 06, 2010

Andrew Goldstein said:

Chicago politicians = criminals Chicago's politicians are the real criminals, not the citizens who want the ability to defend themselves. If Daley and company are so fond of gun control, they should go find some tyrannical country to lord over. In America and to Americans, "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" still means SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED, ever, under any circumstances. We don't even need the Constitution to tell us that, since our ABSOLUTE RIGHT to own guns precedes the establishment of governments. All these petty tyrants need to be kicked out of office, pronto.... Isn't there a law about depriving somebody of their rights under color of law? I'm pretty sure that's a felony.... Where are the good people of law enforcement and the prosecutors office when you need 'em??

August 06, 2010

The South said:

Imperialists 1, Republic 0. I now have no desire to ever visit the City of Chicago. Picture this scenario... two murderous burglars break into your house at 3am. You, your wife, and children are hiding in your room. The door bursts open and it's two guns against one. Too bad your wife can't help defend the lives of your children since the law only allows ONE gun in the house. Bad guys +1, good guys 0. Please keep your anti-republic non-American to yourselves. May mercy be with the law-abiding people of Chicago and luck be with the imperialists trying to enforce this demise to our 2nd Amendment.

August 06, 2010

Texas Chris said:

... “The right to keep and bear arms is not ‘a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,’” claimed Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito... Alito is WRONG. Nowhere does 2A say 'gun'. It says 'keep and bear arms'. If some new, space-age tech is invented tomorrow that makes guns obsolete, then that new tech is covered by 2A, and every American has a constitutional RIGHT to own it, carry it, and use it to defend life and property.

August 06, 2010

Nevada Vic said:

Daley just doesn't get it Every time he tries to impose his anti-gun attitude on law abiding citizens, he is going to get slapped down by the U.S. Supreme Court. His new draconian laws will get tossed into the garbage just like the last bunch did. Sooner or later he's going to get tired of having his butt kicked, and embarrassed, all over national news.

August 06, 2010

Law-abiding gun owner said:

Voter responsibility The unfortunate thing about all this hoo-haa is that the voters elected this nimrod. It's time for THEM to wake up and vote Daley out. We can say all we want about Daley and his drooling minions but until the voters get rid of them, either by voting them out or through court proceedings, Daley and his ilk across the country will continue to think they are gods and will continue to try to violate the Constitutional rights of their constituents.

August 07, 2010