Oh, shoot!

Well I suppose this alderman wants to cover his mistake. I wish he would be more courageous if he just repealed the gun control laws and the registration requirement. Sadly not only would that be just too easy, but there are those who don't want that. You know the whole mistaken belief that society is safer without guns although you can make guns illegal but there are those who don't care if guns are illegal. Sun-Times:

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) is a former hunter with an arsenal of weapons that reportedly features shotguns, rifles and pistols, including a Walther PPK of James Bond fame.

Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass as one of the City Council's most senior members.

So, what does an alderman do when he finds himself in violation of the law? He writes a new law. Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.

During the monthlong window, gun owners who attempted to re-register their guns between May 1, 2007, and April 1, 2008, only to be rejected on grounds the registrations had lapsed would be allowed to re-register without penalty.

"It's not just for me. It's for other people with the same problem. It's giving people who legitimately registered their guns at one time only to let it slip by a chance to come back into compliance," Mell said. "Some people didn't realize that, every year, you have to re-register your guns."

According to Newsalert who also blogged about this article if you arrived in Chicago after 1983 you can't own a gun. Of course it should be noted that it's been often said that Alderman are allowed to carry a gun. Unfortunately their constituents aren't I suppose it could be just as easy to say even the people can't own a gun neither can the aldermen. Alas not only is that too easy, but supposing the aldermen might think that they're entitled to own a gun, but they can reason that the people shouldn't be allowed to.

Kind of an unfortunate double standard don't you think?