I think we can all agree that it’s important to keep guns, like the one pictured to the left, out of the hands of Chicago’s gangs. It is clear which kinds of firearms criminals in Chicago prefer. Chicago has its list of banned “unsafe” handguns out. No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money notes that it gets most of the manufacturers of what anti-gun folks would call “Saturday Night Specials,” including derringers. Chuck Michel is calling it the Goldilocks approach to gun control. I note that it bans some of the more major manufacturers too. Daisy is listed, and they make air guns. All North American Arms spur trigger models are banned. Hi-Points are banned entirely, along with all the Ring of Fire companies. The SIG Mosquito is banned by name. But most of these guns are collector’s pieces, so what crime control purpose could they serve?
We all know the answer to that. They are trying desperately to carve out any space they can find where the Courts will allow them to apply bans, and clearly they’ve decided to hang their hats on the evils of the spur and sheathed trigger. It’s not that Chicago really believes in this as a crime measure, so much as they want to get the courts to say nice things about being able to ban guns for certain reasons, like being unsafe. If this list is upheld, expect Chicago to make frequent additions to make sure your average poor Chicagoans can in no way afford to buy protection for themselves. Having been forced by the Supreme Court to give up bans, having it be a privilege for the Chicago elite is the next best thing.
In this sense, Chicago is being far smarter than DC, because it’s hard to argue that the Government’s general ability to regulate products for safety can’t apply to handguns. But the presence on this list of manufacturers who make cheap, but not unsafe handguns could cause the list to fall, and the Courts may frown on the discretion allowed bureaucrats to deem a handgun “unsafe.” While I would be nervous how the courts will treat this list, it could also pay off for us as readily as Chicago. Chicago is being smarter than DC, but that’s not saying much, and is not to say they are being all that smart.
Walther P22, really?
Banning Hi Points? Maybe they’re not so dumb after all…
I don’t get the Walther P22 thing either. I can only guess it’s because of the zinc alloy slide.
I see a lot of derringers on the list but the Hi-Standards aren’t on there. I would have thought they’d fit whatever criteria they’re using here seeing as how there’s no trigger guard on them. The only safety mechanism is the 36# DAO trigger.
OTOH, finally a lawsuit whose result will be directly applicable to nj firearms laws. The NJ awb is predicated on a named list of weapons.
Ya, most of the guns would only be of interest to collectors. However, I am upset about the P22, as I shot one recently and loved it and was planning to acquire one.
I found it ironic that the “Chicago Defender” which is an antique palm pistol not unlike that modern one that was recently almost declared a medical device and was manufactured by the “Chicago Firearms Company” was banned.
I’d sue them. I hear you know a good attorney ;)
Why on earth is the SIG Mosquito listed? Isn’t that just a .22LR pistol styled like a 226, with a safety?
The Mosquito has a zinc alloy slide just like the Walther P22 does. I’m sure that’s why it’s on the list.
I notice that the NAA minis and Bond Arms derringers are both listed. I carry a .45/.410 Defender and my wife carries a .22 Mag Black Widow as BUGs, and we’ve been quite impressed by their quality and reliability. Both are completely safe until the hammer is cocked, which isn’t going to happen accidentally, and for those not familiar with them, the NAAs have safety notches so the hammer rests on the metal of the cylinder and it is physically impossible to have a ND from the little rim-fires. I think both of these companies (along with the Mosquito and P22) would make excellent test cases as modern, high quality firearms to challenge the notion that the list bans “unsafe” guns to protect the citizens of Chicago from accidental injury (that is, expose it as just a punitive gun ban). I’m sure many others on the list (possibly Hi-Point) would as well, but they mainly seem to be older models that I’m completely unfamiliar with.
On second look, the fact that these are mainly older guns seems to be directly aimed at banning a majority of handguns in Chicago. I noticed that the new law provides for a grace period to register previously illegally possessed handguns, and since the ban has been in place for 30 years or so, I imagine that some large percentage of the handguns possessed by Chicagoans might be old, hand-me-down antiques like the stuff on the list. You know, “Grandad carried this for protection during Prohibition, and he gave it to me, where it’s secretly been in my nightstand all these years, and now you can have it, son.” Ban those firearms, as well as inexpensive replacements (Hi-Point, NAA minis, P22), and anyone living paycheck to paycheck is going to have a hard time coming up with the $300+ to exercise their newly rediscovered right to self defense. Daley and his ilk are insidiously evil, scum-sucking bottom feeders!
The Sig and the P22 might be listed for the same reason – their slides are primarily made of a zinc alloy and not steel, and hell I don’t know, I’m just spitballing at this point.
P22 might fall under the “too small” category as well – size is one of the categories listed as being a factor in banning.
An alternative explaination for the Mosquito and P22 has been suggested, i.e. that they both have threaded barrels.
I do not know.
NukemJim
It can’t be the threaded barrels. Remember some HK’s have threaded barrels and they are not listed. Cans are against Illinois state law anyways.
What strikes me is that almost all of the currently manufactured firearms that are banned are also low in price. IMNSHO, this because the power elite in Chicago does not want “those people” owning pistols.
Look at it this way, these are the obstacles they have put in the way of people on tight budgets:
1. A high permit fee.
2. They will have to take time off to apply for the permit.
3. They will have to pay for training and travel somewhere outside of the city to obtain it.
4. Now, they have placed a higher hurdle in the price of the firearm.