Chicago: "City's gun law has little firepower" ...

[spin]

City's gun law has little firepower
By Mick Dumke


City worker Marty Zamora's unregistered gun collection

Marty Zamora will be the first to tell you he's a gun guy—he owns seven handguns and four rifles. He likes to shoot at a suburban range for sport, but he says that's not the main reason he has them.

"Everybody on my block has been robbed but me," says Zamora, a longtime resident of Pilsen who works for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation. "The gangbangers, they know I've got guns, and I don't get messed with."

Zamora says he's carefully complied with state regulations, which require him to register for a Firearm Owner's Identification Card and to undergo background checks each time he buys a gun. He's taken training classes, and so have his wife and son. But none of Zamora's firearms are registered with the Chicago Police Department, though they're supposed to be under the city's gun law. He says he doesn't trust the city's motives.

***snip***

But other cops I've spoken to dismiss the notion that the law aids their day-to-day work. "Since the registration began, it has changed absolutely nothing in the way we police," says one veteran officer who doesn't want to be named for fear of a run-in with higher-ups. He says cops don't usually access the registration data—he has never seen it himself—but doubted it would make a huge difference if they did. "Police officers are trained to assume there's a gun there, whether it's a traffic stop or a domestic call."
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-gun-law-has-little-firepower/Content?oid=4066435

The misfire
Chicago's tough gun law was supposed to help officials track who's acquiring guns and who's misusing them. So far it's doing neither.

***snip***

John Lott, an economist who argues that gun control laws like Chicago's actually lead to higher crime, says the cost of meeting the gun application's training and registration requirements essentially discriminates against low-income black communities. In Chicago, the training and permit fees cost about $250 on top of the price of the gun.

"Those who are most likely to be victims of crime benefit the most from owning guns, and unfortunately, that is one very well defined group in our country, poor blacks who live in high crime urban areas such as Chicago," Lott wrote in an e-mail. "But these white, middle class areas can much more easily afford the fees to register their guns and to go through the training requirements."

***snip***

Sawyer's south-side ward includes struggling, high-crime areas in Englewood as well as middle-class parts of Chatham where residents are openly talking about getting guns because of crime concerns. He says it's appropriate to have "reasonable restrictions" on gun ownership in the city, though it's also clear that many people aren't complying with the law. He recalled an evening when he offered to walk a senior citizen home after a community meeting.

"She moved her coat to the side and showed me she was packing," he recalls. "She said, 'How about if I walk you home?'" 
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-gun-registration/Content?oid=4066384

[Deep13]

1. Meh, I've got scarier shit than that in my house.

I can't figure out why people by short, weight-saving carbine versions of the AR15 and put gigantic, heavy scopes on them. A bolt-action target/varmit rifle costs half as much and can actually benefit from a big scope.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. I agree with your sniper scoped AR comment

When I teach classes, the vast majority of of the students have never held a firearm. I take the time to go over different types, what they are normally used for, etc. That plus the range times changes a lot of minds about evil black plastic guns.

[ileus]

4. I put a 4-20 on my wifes AR because she likes shooting groups.

I'll be putting something of the same power on my 6.8 for deer season this fall.


I picked the 6.8 because I can use it in Va and it'll fit my 7yo son better with the adjustable stock.

[Deep13]

8. 4-20 power or 4x with a 20mm objective?

Is it a full length AR, or a carbine?

[benEzra]

7. AR's can make good long-range rifles with the heavier loads in the 77gr range

and if you are just punching paper, a small bullet with a high BC can work well.

For serious long-distance rigs, "half as much as a typical AR" is considerably less than the price of the glass, never mind the whole ensemble (dropping $1800+ on a scope in F-class is not uncommon), and some people really like AR's. You do pay a bit of a price premium for the AR, but if you can afford to play in that league then that cost difference is probably not a determining factor.

Here's an AR set up for F-class benchrest (300 to 1200 yards):



My own is set up for 0-300 yards since I shoot USPSA, but I can see the appeal.

[Deep13]

9. The one in the picture is a long-barrel model...

built specifically for long range shooting. The one in the OP's photo looks like a close quarter carbine like mine. I have a S&W "M&P-15" with a 16" barrel and a Leupold VX-III 1.5-5x20mm with quick release mount and folding iron sights. The longest distance at the range I use is 200 yards and for that I use a Savage model 12 with a 44mm scope.

[oneshooter]

11. My Loving Wife uses a AR 15 I built for her. It has a 20" mid weight

barrel with a timney adj. trigger. She normally shoots a reduced 200yd course. No scope, only A2 sights. As for me I shoot Master class(barely!) across the course, 200-600yds. I use a 11lb M1 Garand I built to Nat. Match standards. Lat match there were only 4 M1's on the line, and 6 M1a1's.

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[benEzra]

13. A 16" barrel isn't any less accurate than a 20", if you're running an optic,

as long as barrel quality is equal. Shorter barrels actually have lower amplitude harmonics.

What shorter barrels give up is sight radius (for iron sights) and muzzle velocity, which makes very long range shooting more challenging if there's any wind. I've seen a few 16" guns set up as long range rifles in 3-gun circles, though.

[oneshooter]

14. She likes the balance with the 20" barrel. All her shooting is 3 position with sling. n/t

[lawodevolution]

2. The reason gun control does not reduce crime is that gun control is designed to oppress the right of

the law abiding to own firearms. Gun control can advance even without the support of the majority because it is based on the fear of the people by the government. I suggest the government should stop fearing us, I'm a gun owner and I love my country.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. Spot on! Jefferson:

When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

[spin]

6. If future gun control measures focused on taking guns away from criminals ...

and actually were effective, fewer people would buy firearms for self defense.

Actually targeting the criminal element which includes drug gangs which are actually terrorist organizations and stopping the sale of firearms to people with severe mental issues would accomplish far more than another assault weapons ban, gun registration, or any technologically unfeasible idea such as micro stamping.

The problem is the true motivation of many organizations and politicians who favor gun control. In my opinion their end game is to disarm American citizens. They realize that they can not do this overnight but that they can take small steps to achieve their goal. Rather than actually try to solve the problem of gun violence they use tragedies to promote their goal.

After the Tucson shooting the Brady Campaign could have pushed for getting the names of those who have serious mental issues on the NICS background check system in a more timely manner as they have in the past, but instead they shoved that idea to the back burner and instead launched a campaign against their newest target, "assault clips." The word "assault" raises the emotions of the reader and the word "clip" has a far more negative connotation than the correct term "magazine." The fact is that the reason Jared Lee Loughner didn't shoot more people might well have been caused by the fact he was using "assault clips" rather than standard capacity magazines which are far more reliable and can be swapped in a second with a little practice.

I believe most gun owners want to see gun violence decrease as they have a vested interest in their hobby. If organizations like the Brady Campaign had the same goal, the NRA, gun owners and the Brady Campaign could actually work together to improve our current laws.

Unfortunately the NRA-ILA and the Brady Campaign are approaching the gun control issue like the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Cleveland Browns in a football game where only the winner counts.

[Straw Man]

10. Is it just a trick of perspective...

...or it that a 1/2 scale model of a Marlin 795 in the lower right of the picture?

[krispos42]

12. Sometimes shorter barrels make for more accurate guns

Putting the weight of a regular thickness, regular length barrel instead into a shorter, bull barrel can significantly reduce barrel flex and thus increase accuracy.


Of course, if you use iron sights you lose a bit of accuracy, as the distance between the front and rear sight decreases. But that is not an issue if you use optics like a scope.


You'll also lose muzzle velocity, but if somebody is just going for accuracy like in benchrest shooting, they may not care if they lose 5 or 10% as long as their groups are tight.

:shrug:

There was an article in a gun magazine about short, bull-barreled AR's for urban sniper work. The idea being to use a .223 instead of a .308 for closer urban distances, and using the short bull barrel to achieve the accuracy level of a bolt-action sniper rifle. And, of course, you have the advantage of a larger magazine and semiautomatic firepower.