Must Be Nice

Must Be Nice!

So, what happens when you're a lawmaker and you violate the law? Write a new one!

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) is a former hunter with an arsenal of weapons that reportedly features shotguns, rifles and pistols, including a Walther PPK of James Bond fame.

But there's a problem.

Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass as one of the City Council's most senior members.

So, what does an alderman do when he finds himself in violation of the law? He writes a new law. Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.

As others have pointed out that the law as written makes it illegal to re-register any grandfathered handguns - forget to keep up the registration once, and you can never re-register them again.

But here's the part of the story that really irks me:

"I knew it was the law. I thought it was being done [by a staff member]. If you have a person you trust to do it and they don't do it, then it doesn't get done. I'm not gonna say it's embarrassing. I'm just gonna say I should have done it," the alderman said.

So a staff member was supposed to take time on the clock to do Alderman Richard Mell's personal business? What else does he do on the public's dime? Pick up Mell's dry cleaning? Do his grocery shopping?

This, too pissed me off:

Mell said he first realized he was in violation of the re-registration requirement about a year ago. When he tried to re-register his guns belatedly, the Chicago Police Department's Gun Registration Section refused to bend the rules. Mell appealed that ruling to the city's Department of Administrative Hearings but decided to re-write the law instead."When we looked at the law, we saw the possibility of winning [the appeal] wasn't gonna happen," he said.

Had one of his constituents come to him in a similar predicament, what would Mell have done or said? "Sorry, tough luck" is my bet. Now it's been a year - so what happened to all of his guns?

He should be hoist on his own petard.

Or tarred and feathered.

AFTER he gets the stupid damned law repealed.