Mayor Daley Fights for Gun Control Despite Supreme Court Ruling

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Daily Caller:

Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley fights for gun control despite Supreme Court ruling on McDonald case
By Amanda Carey - The Daily Caller | Published: 1:09 AM 07/01/2010 | Updated: 4:09 AM 07/01/2010

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley speaks during a news conference, Monday, June 28, 2010, in Chicago. Daley said he's disappointed by Monday's widely expected Supreme Court decision that Americans have a right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere but promised to soon push for a new ordinance regulating handguns in the city. He stressed that while the city's 28-year-old ban remains in place until a federal appeals court reconsiders its ruling, it's clear it will be overturned. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonald v. Chicago, which struck down the city’s ban on handguns, officials are fighting back hard. In the words of Mayor Richard Daley, the city “will publicly propose a new ordinance very soon,” that will restrict gun ownership without violating the court’s decision.

That means miles of new red tape and regulations Chicagoans will have to go through to legally obtain a handgun even though the right to bear arms is actually considered a “right.”

The suit in Chicago was filed days after the court ruled in 2008 in DC v. Heller, that Washington D.C.’s ban on guns was unconstitutional. That decision opened up the door for a slew of lawsuits because the court was not clear whether their decision applied to cities and states.

In McDonald v. Chicago, the Supreme Court justices decided 5-4 that the Heller decision could be incorporated to the states via the due process clause in the 14th Amendment.

But what seems like a victory for gun-rights advocates that will make it easier for citizens to own firearms, the ruling may not make much difference in Chicago. That is, if Mayor Daley gets his way.

“We’re working to rewrite our ordinance in a reasonable and responsible way to protect our 2nd Amendment rights and protect Chicagoans from gun violence,” Daley said in a recent press release.

“Gun violence is not just a Chicago problem, it is an American problem,” said Daley. “And, it will continue until we understand that there are reasonable and responsible steps we can take as a nation to help end the needless gun violence that irresponsible people bring on our friends and family.”

Although the specifics of the new ordinance have yet to be made public, those “reasonable and responsible steps” will most likely resemble those in D.C. There, residents are forced to take training courses, spend a certain amount of time on a firing range, and pass a 20-question test on guns laws.

None of which are exactly cheap for hopeful gun owners to pay for, or the city to provide. And it is those kinds of regulations that give gun advocates reason to worry.

Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, told The Daily Caller that while the principle that the 2nd Amendment now applies to the whole country is significant, the battle is far from over.

“The challenge now is to attack licensing schemes that are almost just as bad as a ban,” said Pratt. “Now, most people just give up or can’t afford it … Chicago is very likely to do what was done in D.C., which is pretty outrageous.”