Chicago already has the reputation of being one of the deadliest cities in the nation. But that fact didn’t stop a District Court Judge today from laying out the welcome mat for more gun sellers.
Gun dealers can set up shop in Chicago, a federal judge has ruled — declaring the city’s ban on firearms sales unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Edmond E. Chang wrote in a 35-page opinion published Monday that Chicago’s 2010 ordinance banning gun sales within city limits “goes too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers from engaging in lawful acquisitions and lawful sales of firearms.”
Though Chang stayed his ruling to give the city a chance to appeal — and said a less restrictive ordinance than the unconstitutional blanket ban could yet pass muster — lawyers for the Illinois Association of Firearm Retailers were quick to predict that neighborhood gun stores could now open before the end of 2014.
The ruling is the latest in a series of legal blows to the city’s efforts to restrict gun ownership since the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled Chicago’s handgun ban unconstitutional.
City Hall attorneys had argued that the gun sale ban makes it harder for criminals to get their hands on weapons.
Chang agreed the city had a “fundamental duty” to protect its citizens and acknowledged that “the stark reality facing the City each year is thousands of shooting victims and hundreds of murders committed with a gun.”
