You Gotta Be Kidding!

City bans possession and sale of BB-guns, replicas

Emboldened by school violence and a summer shooting near Cabrini-Green, the City Council voted Wednesday to ban the sale and possession of BB and pellet guns and any replica that shoots a projectile. A Daisy PowerLine Model 93 BB-gun made to look like a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol was at the center of the dispute between police and North Side residents that followed the August shooting of 14-year-old Ellis Woodland. That's precisely the kind of gun that can no longer be sold, bought or owned in Chicago. "This will help save the lives of many, many people... . If an officer has to hesitate and examine the situation to see if the gun is real, that officer is going to die," said Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd), who introduced the ban after the August shooting in his ward. Mayor Daley pointed to this week's school shooting that left five Amish girls dead as evidence of the "escalation" of gun violence. "You see what took place in Pennsylvania. You see what's taking place -- not just in cities, but in rural communities.Gun violence has been increasing tremendously in this country," he said. Referring to replica guns, he said, "If you're a police officer ... and somebody pulls a look-alike gun out at you, what are you going to do? Are you going to wait till they shoot?" The shooting that triggered Wednesday's crackdown happened after a man flagged down a sergeant on Division near Sedgwick and pointed to Woodland on a sidewalk, saying the teen robbed him. Officers spotted a fleeing Woodland and shot at him four times from about 10 feet away after authorities contended he refused to put up his hands and drop what turned out to be a BB-gun. Woodland was hit in the abdomen and thigh. A third shot grazed his arm; the fourth missed.

H/T: The Gates of Hell