Political Grandstanding & The Law
I had to laugh reading this story about a mayoral candidate in Illinois who decided to commit nine felonies in the name of a gun buyback that not even the local police supported.
Blue Island police shut down a “Turn in Your Gun Day” Saturday organized by a mayoral hopeful.
Tommy Brown, 38, offered $100 for every gun turned in from 9 a.m. to noon at the Redemption Theater, 12952 S. Western Ave. …
However, Blue Island Police Chief Douglas Hoglund shut down the event just 30 minutes after it began. Hoglund said the building didn’t have a business license and no one authorized by a law enforcement agency was there to take possession of the traded-in guns.
“Any transfer of firearms that doesn’t go to a state agency is a Class 1 felony,” Hoglund said.
Brown was warned beforehand by the city not to conduct the firearm trade-in event, but he went ahead anyway.
Hoglund said he’s known Brown since he was a kid and understands what he’s trying to do, but he doesn’t completely agree.
“I agree with the premise of taking the guns off the streets,” he said. “But I don’t agree with the method.”
No obviously related posts.
One guess on whether he’ll actually face felony charges…
They’ve already said there’s no way. Those laws are for riffraff like me, not well-intentioned good ‘ol boys like him.
I’ve always wondered… would it be legal for me to hang around in front of one of these buyback places, and offer the people a better price than the buyback was giving? As long as I wasn’t a prohibited person, wouldn’t that be a private sale?
It would be. Private sales are regulated by the state, but assuming they are legal, it would be a legal transaction.
There have been groups in the past that stood outside of these events with appraisers and FFLs to take a look at guns and make the people better offers. That way good guns get back into circulation in the lawful community and people who are turning in family guns that they don’t know how to use or little old ladies giving up their late husband’s gun don’t get ripped off. These aren’t criminal guns being turned in at these events, so many of them are worth something.
Illinois requires a minimum 24 hour waiting period (72 for handguns) even for private sales.
Does Brown have a FOID card required by Illinois to buy or possess a firearm?
Has Brown been “adjudicated as a mental defective”?