The State of Illinois is moving through a ban on standard capacity magazines. It was introduced as an amendment to another bill by State Senator Dan Kotowski of Cook County. It’s called SB1007. Here’s the text of the bill.

7		Sec. 24-1.8. Manufacture, possession, delivery, sale, and
8		purchase of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.
9		(a) As used in this Section:
10		"Large capacity ammunition feeding device" means:
11		(1) a detachable magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or
12		similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be
13		readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10
14		rounds of ammunition; or
15		(2) any combination of parts from which a device
16		described in paragraph (1) can be assembled.

Of course, Police, Olympic competitors, and folks at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta. Odd that anti-gun groups and politicians say these devices have no legitimate use, yet they feel the need to except people who, you know, are using them for a legitimate sporting use.

But I guess Senator Kotowski gets to decide what legitimate sporting uses he approves of. If they don’t like your legitimate sporting use, you’re screwed. And of course, these magazines have no self-defense use either, unless of course you’re a police officer, then they do.

Remember that it only takes a few seconds to change a magazine. This bill will not, of course, affect availability of magazines to criminals. Existing magazines are grandfathered, and there are a lot of them out there.

There is also no exception for people traveling through the State of Illinois. There’s FOPA, but that won’t keep you out of jail.

David Codrea tells us that Red’s Trading Post is back in business again, after a federal judge issued an injunction against the BATFE:

Judge Lodge noted in making his decision that “the ATF speaks of violations found during the inspections of 2000 and 2005, but fails to reveal that additional investigations in 2001 and 2007 revealed no violations or problems.” He also notes Red’s statement that ATF is exaggerating Red’s conduct by “double counting” certain violations. Also noted was the balance of the ATF’s hardship compared to Red’s hardship. The judge found “that granting the preliminary injunction would not place the public safety in jeopardy” and “that that the relative hardships tip sharply in favor of Red’s.”

Hopefully Red’s will prevail in their case overall.  These kinds of abuses by the ATF really need to stop.  But hey, it’s Idaho.  Lots of guns and not much crime.  I guess the ATF agents have to make a name for themselves somehow, right?

One area I agree with the hard line, no compromise crowd is elimination of the ATF.   I’ve always believed in consolidating most federal law enforcement functions back down to the U.S. Marshall service.  I’ve never understood the logic of having half a dozen separate federal law enforcement agencies.

Tam says we shouldn’t worry about warranty registration cards, and explains how the BATFE trace process works.  I agree about the warranty cards, but I’m usually too lazy to fill them out and mail them.  She also says that 4473 requirements shouldn’t be considered a registry.

I agree with Tam on the substance of the issue, but I do still think that, technically, it does amount to a form or registration, but not the kind that generally worries us.

To me the real test is whether or not the government can go to a computer and ask “Show me all the guns that Sebastian owns”.  If they can, that worries me, because if a confiscation law is ever passed, I’m a few keystroke away from a knock on the door by someone with a gun, badge and a list.

But the current system doesn’t lend itself to that kind of question.  Given enough time, and legwork, a particular gun can indeed be traced to its last legal owner, but they can’t find out what other guns I own.

But despite that,  on 4473, or even the dealer’s bound book, is contained all the information that would be necessary to make such a registry.  The only thing standing in the way is a change in the law, a giant pile of money from congress, and an army of data entry people.  If a confiscation law were ever to pass, and Congress or a state government thought it was important enough to invest huge sums of money on computerizing all the forms out there, they would have all my guns in due time.  They wouldn’t even really need all the 4473s.   Really, the dealer’s bound book would be all that’s needed.

Also, some larger FFLs have computerized records.  They still keep the 4473, but they keep their bound books in computer form.  I seem to recall the ATF can allow some type 01 and 02 FFLs to do this.  For these larger FFLs, a lot of the dirty work is already done.

But this step would require an Act of Congress.  Naturally, we would fight this as hard, or harder, than we would an actual name, address and serial number registration bill.

One of SayUncle’s reader corrects us about Switzerland and says we ought to close the “gun show loophole” which is Bradyspeak for banning private sales of firearms.

Pennsylvania has banned the private transfers of handguns.  In order to transfer a handgun to someone who isn’t an immediate family member, you have to either go through a licensed dealer, or the County Sheriff, both of whom will conduct background checks.

Philadelphia’s murder rate is skyrocketing.  They are currently on track to exceed 400 murders this year.  As best as I can tell, banning private sales of handguns has had exactly no impact on the availability of guns for criminals.  Now the city is calling for the state to implement another anti-gun canard, one-gun-a-month, because the ban on private sales of handguns isn’t working to reduce crime or even reduce straw purchasing.

Why is the solution, if it’s not working, it must mean you’re not doing enough of it?