Posted by Eugene Volokh: "Assault Weapon" / .50-Caliber Rifle Ban by Zip Code: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_22-2009_03_28.shtml#1238092820
I just read an interesting [1]amendment to an Illinois House Bill proposed by Illinois Rep. [2]André M. Thapedi. A few thoughts: 1. The law that it proposes would be titled "the Automatic Weapons Safe Zone Act of 2009." But many provisions of the law expressly target semiautomatics, and those that don't specifically mention that in fact will only practically apply to semiautomatics, since fully automatic weapons are already largely banned for civilians by federal law and entirely banned for civilians [3]by Illinois law. 2. The law, as now usual, defines "assault weapons" by focusing partly on whether they have folding stocks, pistol grips, barrel shrouds, and other factors that are of no relevance to the gun's dangerousness or criminal utility. Even if criminals comply with it, they can be just as dangerous by simply switching to other, unbanned weapons. (The .50-caliber rifle is potentially more dangerous, but it is of course not commonly used in crime, in Illinois or elsewhere. 3. Most remarkably, though, the law applies to "the following [4]zip codes: 60637, 60636, 60629, 60621, 60620, and 60619." These are, as I understand it, [5]overwhelmingly black (except [6]60629, which leads [7]Dave Workman (Seattle Gun Rights Examiner) to condemn the bill as "racist." I don't think that's right. I have no reason to think that the representative has no hostility to any particular race, and even if one focuses just on the impact of the law (something that I think shouldn't be done under the label "racist"), both the restrictive and the supposedly protective effects of the law will mostly affect blacks. At the same time, this sort of criminal-law-by-zip-code strikes me as unusual and unlikely to be either effective or fair. Thanks to [8]Dave Workman and Prof. Ray Kessler for the pointer. References 1. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/96/HB/09600HB1966ham001.htm 2. http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?MemberID=1536 3. http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=072000050K24-1 4. http://www.dreamtown.com/maps/chicago-zipcode-map.html 5. http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=60637 6. http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=60629 7. http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d25-Illinois-Assembly-considering-racist-bill-aimed-at-minority-neighborhood-in-Chicago 8. http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m3d25-Illinois-Assembly-considering-racist-bill-aimed-at-minority-neighborhood-in-Chicago _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
