Politics & gun control

Shooting Industry, Feb, 1995 by Jim Schneider

Chicago Area Gun Shop Owners Involved In Crucial Court Battle

Forty Cook County, Ill., gun shop owners currently are locked in a crucial legal battle that they say could have broad implications for dealers and the firearms industry nationwide - especially if they lose.

The owners, who have formed a group called the Illinois Sporting Goods Association (ISGA), are battling a new ordinance passed by the Cook County Board on July 7, last year.

This latest law would ban all gun shops within one-quarter mile of a school or park by March and would immediately put 13 of them out of business. Towns can exempt dealers who are within their city limits from the law. A lower court has upheld the ordinance in a decision that is under appeal.

Former ISGA President John Riggio, owner of Chuck's Dolton Gun Shop in Riverdale, warns dealers in other parts of the country and the industry not to underestimate the importance of this case.

"If this law stands, it will set a national precedent and affect our industry across the country," Riggio declared. "You know that if we lose, Handgun Control Inc., will attempt to impose similar ordinances in other major metropolitan areas.

"If they can halt the sale of firearms in even five or six major metropolitan areas, they are going to have a huge affect on the industry.

"We figure the 40 shops in our organization alone do an estimated $65 to $70 million a year in business. And that doesn't include the big chains - such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sports Authorities - that would be affected by the law."

An earlier ordinance passed in November 1993 was similar to the new one, but would have closed only four shops. That measure exempted persons who owned their own building, department stores and dealers who operate out of their home. It also would have allowed gun shops in rented quarters to finish their leases.

However, in February, U.S. District Judge James Holderman ruled that the exemptions were so arbitrary and irrational that they made the ordinance unconstitutional.

Seeing that he was going to lose at the appellate level also, Cook County Board president Richard Phelan apparently decided to try to plug up the loopholes in the old law and draw up a new, tougher ordinance.

The push for a new ordinance originally came from a group of Arlington Heights parents who objected to the opening of Strictly Shooting, a gun shop in a Prospect Heights shopping center, across the street from Hersey High School.

However, politics soon entered the picture, especially the political ambitions of Phelan.

"What happened is relatively simple," said ISGA secretary Dave Norin, owner of Bell's Gun & Sport Shop in Franklin Park. "Dick Phelan wanted to run for governor, and he needed some headlines.

"His campaign became: 'We are going to ban all these evil gun shops.'

"And let's face it, we are high profile. We've got signs in front of our buildings saying, 'guns,' 'shooting sports,' etc.

"When the court rejected the law, Phelan looked bad in the newspapers. So he felt he had to come back with an even tougher law."

Phelan, who made gun control the cornerstone of his campaign, was soundly defeated in his quest for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Unfortunately, Phelan's resounding rejection in the primary does not mean a lessening of the drive to impose gun control by putting gun shops out of business.

In fact, William Klicka, owner of the Village Sports Center in Arlington Heights, said, "We expect them to pass at least one more law after we beat them in court on this one." So the battle is not expected to die soon.

Klicka's store in Mt. Prospect is one of the 13 that would be put out of business by the new ordinance because it is within a quarter mile of an elementary school which, ironically, is scheduled to be shut down in a few years.

Nevertheless, this story does have two silver linings so far. One is the initial court ruling in February. The other is that a group of gun-shop owners have been able - with minimal outside help - to organize a group as effective and cohesive as the ISGA.

"There are gun ordinances popping up all over the country," Norin pointed out. "The importance of what is happening in northern Illinois is that all the legitimate gun shop owners have gotten together to form an organization.

"We had our first meeting in September 1993 and actually incorporated this October. In that time we have raised over $125,000.

"For 40 gun shop owners to get together and solicit and raise that kind of money is absolutely amazing."

However, the figure is only a fraction of the amount that will be needed before this legal battle draws to a close - a battle in which the other side can dip into the deep pockets of the taxpayers.

"This is incredibly expensive," Riggio stressed.

"But if you're going to do this, you've got to do it right. We're in a life-and-death struggle to save our shops - and, ultimately, gun shops around the country."

Persons wishing to financially support the ISGA may send checks made out to the Illinois Sporting Goods Association to: ISGA, P.O. Box 59276, Chicago, IL 60659; (708) 447-4848.