Yes, this is a few days old:
Two controversial gun control proposals advanced to the full House Wednesday.
On a partisan vote, the Democratic-controlled House Executive Committee approved a measure requiring handgun owners to register their weapons with the state.
The panel also signed off on legislation that would create a special 2 percent tax on ammunition, which would finance trauma facilities that treat gunshot victims.
Both measures headed to the floor after failing to win support from Republican committee members. They said it remains unproven that such laws will reduce crime. And, they added, downstate gun owners would be unfairly burdened with the changes.
via The Quad City Times.
This is of course ridiculous. I have already written on how gun control registries are expensive and don’t live up to their claims. But I guess the gun control Nazis don’t care about such things.
Thanks to the folks over at Second City Cop, I did not a little research and found out that in the U.S. (my previous writing was on the Canadian registry) criminals actually cannot be prosecuted for not registering their weapons. Really? Yes, really!
The USSC (United States Supreme Court) ruled in Haynes v. United States that:
Miles Edward Haynes was a convicted felon who was charged with failing to register a firearm under the Act. Haynes argued that, because he was a convicted felon and thus prohibited from owning a firearm, requiring him to register was essentially requiring him to make an open admission to the government that he was in violation of the law, which was thus a violation of his right not to incriminate himself.
In 7-1 decision, the Court ruled in favor of Haynes.
You see, in Illinois if you are felon you cannot get a FOID card which is necessary to possess — even touch a single bullet — a firearm or ammunition in the state. So if you don’t have a FOID you cannot register your handgun. However, because registering your handgun would force you to demonstrate that you do not have a FOID means that you would be incriminating yourself by trying to register. Therefore, registration would violate your 5th Amendment right against self incrimination.
So, this registry has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting guns out of the hands of criminals — the don’t have to register them!!
It’s all about creating a list of law abiding citizens (including police officers) who happen to own handguns.