B. CRAIG GRAFTON - GUN CONTROL: ILLINOIS VS. TEXAS

​Author is a retired attorney having practiced for 35 years in Illinois who now lives in Texas and started writing stories about a year and a half ago.

     
                                Gun Control: Illinois vs. Texas


​ 
     I retired and moved from Illinois to south Texas about five years ago. Recently  I was at a flea market here in South Texas when I came across a booth offering, rifles, guns, handgun classes and other weapon related items for sale. Talking to the promoter he informed me that in order to carry a concealed handgun in Texas you had to have a permit and that you had to take a handgun class to get a permit. I told him that I wasn’t interested in a handgun but possibly a .22 rifle and asked if any classes or permits were required for owning a .22 rifle. No he told me. No paperwork required. The permit law applied only to carrying concealed weapons. He then told me that he did have some .22 rifles for sale as well as longs or shorts, i.e. ammo, bullets for a .22 and handed me a coupon for ten percent off all used firearms. He operated a gun selling business out of his home which was conveniently located only a few miles from where I lived and thus made the offer very tempting.
     I thought back to when I lived in upper Rock Island County Illinois and bought a used .22 from a local hunting and fishing supplies store there. This was right after President Obama got elected and everyone was scared to death that he was going to take away all our guns. Because of all the hysteria business was booming the store owner informed me. But the paperwork required under Illinois law to sell a firearm was overwhelming. On the plus side though he had no competition from Wal-mart anymore as the Illinois Wal-Mart stores had given up selling guns. It was cost prohibitive for them. However as to himself he had to put up with it since operating as a sole proprietor, he counted on gun sales in order to stay in business.
     He went on and said that all of this all had come about because the blankety blank Illinois politicians had passed these new gun control laws. They knew that they couldn’t outright ban firearms but that they could make it cost prohibitive to sell and own them. That was their backdoor approach he told me.
     Well back then I had already gone to the trouble of getting my Illinois FOID card (Firearms Owner ID card) so I bought a .22 rifle and some shells from him. Ended up shooting only one sickly possum before I moved to Texas. Sold the rifle at auction with my other belongings when I moved. My auctioneer told me that only a FOID card was required for one to buy a gun at an auction. He added though that it’s just a matter of time before this changes.
    Back in the day when I was a kid there were no Illinois gun control laws and I use to buy .22 shells for my rifle over the counter, same as a candy bar or a soda pop at Mack’s Service, a Coal Valley Illinois gas station on Route 150. I didn’t even have to be an adult. It was that simple. Those were simpler times.
     Well I have yet to buy a .22 rifle here in Texas. Still thinking about it. I have checked out the local Wal-Mart and they do sell them. 
     Bottom line on gun control: Gun ownership will decrease in Illinois and increase in Texas and Illinois will become a safer place to live than Texas. Illinois wins! Wahoo! (Tongue in cheek).