Chicago Police union boss blasts 'double standard' on gun plan

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue today decried the "double standard" that prompted Mayor Daley to endorse the idea of temporarily re-opening gun registration in Chicago after a request from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).

"We have retired police officers who have a right to carry concealed weapons across the country, and they're being barred from registering their weapons in Chicago. We've taken one of these cases to Circuit Court. Dick Mell has taken his case to the City Council," the union president said.

"Whether he knows it or not, the mayor, by this agreement [to endorse a temporary gun amnesty] is establishing a double standard. One for members of the City Council, the other for everybody else."

A former hunter, Mell is proposing a one-month amnesty after he forgot to re-register his arsenal of shotguns, rifles and pistols as required every year by the ordinance he helped to pass.

During the month-long 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.

Daley responded by endorsing the idea without reservation--not as a favor to Mell, but to get a realistic handle on the number of guns in Chicago.

The mayor argued that Mell is not alone. A lot of gun owners find themselves in the same predicament. Many of them are hunters who bring their guns "back and forth" to summer homes in Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, the mayor said.

On Wednesday, Donahue questioned the mayor's motives for endorsing the change. If the goal is truly what Daley says it is, then the amnesty window should be permanently re-opened for existing gun owners, the union president said.

"If they're looking to find out how many guns are in the city, leave it open. Why set a window on it? Do it for everyone who has an existing gun," Donahue said.

We've been unable to get a comment from Alderman Mell's relative on gun control,Alphonse Tornabene. For a better understanding of Tornabene check out page 27 of this racketeering indictment.