Chicago's ban on gun sales ruled unconstitutional

Chicago lakefront

Despite having fewer residents than New York or Los Angeles, Chicago still suffered more murders--again--than either city last year.

And Chicago's strictest-in-the-nation gun laws aren't the answer for stopping the bleeding.

But Chicagoans who want to legally defend themselves may be able to do so more easily soon.

From the Chicago Tribune:

A federal judge on Monday stripped away a key element of Chicago’s gun ordinance, ruling that it is unconstitutional to prohibit licensed gun stores from operating in the city.

U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang found that the city failed to persuade him that banning the sale of guns by licensed dealers was necessary to reduce the gun violence that has plagued the city.

The ruling also would make it legal for individuals to transfer ownership of a firearm as a gift or in a private sale as long as the recipient was over 18 and had a Firearm Owner’s Identification card.

Chicago, the last city to allow residents to have handguns in their homes, once had one of the strongest handgun crackdowns in the country, making it a primary target of the National Rifle Association. Overturning the ban on retail gun stores and private gun sales was the last major hurdle gun rights groups faced in their hard-fought battle to dismantle Chicago’s tough firearm prohibitions.

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