Chicago has put zoning regulations regarding gun ranges in place to avoid, as one alderman put it, “a return to the Wild West.”

The city has been without gun-range restrictions since January when the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Chicago’s prior rules were too restrictive. Previously, the city had limited any potential gun range to one of the city’s industrial area.

There are no gun ranges currently located within the city limits.

City Council members last week (May 24) expanded potential areas for gun ranges to include business and commercial areas, but gun ranges cannot just go into one of those areas. The passed city ordinance requires that all potential gun ranges are “special uses” and, subsequently, require public hearings on an individual basis.

“I think some of the members of the council might have been quite startled to learn that the reason this ordinance is here before us is because as of this very moment, Chicago, the third largest city in the nation, has no specific zoning constraints which apply to firing ranges,” said Ald. Ed Burke, 14^th Ward.

Burke said the Appellate Court ruling wiped away all of the city restrictions for locating firing ranges. The federal court cited that industrial areas only make up 2 percent of Chicago’s geography, far too restrictive of an area for potential ranges.

“Essentially what the decision of the 7th Circuit did is that the federal court ordered virtually all of Chicago’s zoning restrictions as they apply to shooting ranges out of the zoning ordinance, leaving, therefore, absolutely nothing in place in Chicago to regulate firearms ranges.”

Burke said the result of the situation is similar to “that long-running TV series that some of us are old enough to remember … entitled ‘Naked City.’”

The 14^th Ward alderman stressed that the new ordinance is not a relaxing of relevant restrictions because there are not relevant restrictions in the legislation.

“To the contrary, this ordinance imposes zoning and operating restrictions in response to the mandate of the federal court and imposes those restrictions right up to the line that was drawn in the sand by the federal court,” Burke said.

The city’s regulations restrict anyone under the age of 18 from shooting at a Chicago range. Chicago’s previous rule banning anyone under 18 from being on the premises of a gun range was determined by the federal court to be invalid.

The new regulations also drop the requirement that shooters all have an Illinois Firearms Owners Identification Card, but retains the need for employees of the range to have state-issued FOID cards.

Chicago’s new gun-range rules replace any hours limitation with the need to obtain a special use classification.

“Essentially, it will require that your neighbors, the people you represent, will have an opportunity to testify before the Board of Zoning Appeals because it is a special use and must be granted in each and every case,” Burke told his fellow aldermen.

He said the ordinance is a necessary, non-discretionary measure to restore gun-range regulations in Chicago. Quoting from the legislation, Burke said, “This ordinance is not an expression of policy. Its purpose is to confirm the municipal code to binding judicial precedent.”

In urging his colleagues to vote “yes,” Burke said a “no” vote would leave the city unprotected.

“A ‘no’ vote is to leave the city with absolutely no meaningful zoning regulations at all to gun ranges,” Burke said, “truly a return to the Wild West.”

A voice vote on the issue did not register any “no” votes.

— Chicago puts gun-range rules in place  —