Illinois gun bill, HB6123 promotes racial profiling

[Crusade]

http://affrodite.net/2010/03/15/illinois-gun-bill-hb6123-promotes-racial-profiling/

It "prohibits the sell of guns to people who look like street gang members". This is the exact same logic used in the Arizona immigration bill. What does a street gang member look like? Me? People who wear hip hop clothing? Black and Hispanic people? How did this slip under the radar?

[cska]

This could increase racial profiling, but that clearly is not what the bill is doing, and that website is misleading about it.

According to http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?GAID=10&SessionID=76&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&DocNum=6123&LegID=52103&SpecSess=&Session=:

(A) A person commits the offense of unlawful sale of
firearms when he or she knowingly does any of the following:
...
(l) Knowingly sells or gives any firearm to any person
8 who is a street gang member. For purposes to this paragraph
9 (l): "street gang member" has the meaning ascribed to the
10 term "street gang member" in Section 10 of the Illinois
11 Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act.

According to http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2052&ChapAct=740%26nbsp%3BILCS%26nbsp%3B147%2F&ChapterID=57&ChapterName=CIVIL+LIABILITIES&ActName=Illinois+Streetgang+Terrorism+Omnibus+Prev ention+Act:

"Streetgang" or "gang" or "organized gang" or "criminal street gang" means any combination, confederation, alliance, network, conspiracy, understanding, or other similar conjoining, in law or in fact, of 3 or more persons with an established hierarchy that, through its membership or through the agency of any member engages in a course or pattern of criminal activity.

"Streetgang member" or "gang member" means any person who actually and in fact belongs to a gang, and any person who knowingly acts in the capacity of an agent for or accessory to, or is legally accountable for, or voluntarily associates himself with a course or pattern of gang‑related criminal activity, whether in a preparatory, executory, or cover‑up phase of any activity, or who knowingly performs, aids, or abets any such activity.

[Crusade]

Thanks for giving me a more reliable source, but I don't see the difference. How is a a gun salesman supposed to know if someone is in a gang? If he sells a gun to someone without knowledge of him being in a gang, but it turns out he is, will the salesman be held accountable for it? Wouldn't this make people hesitant to sell guns that fit the "profile" of a gang member? A profile that typically centers around being young and a racial minority(other than asian)?

[freakazoid]

Just like the original anti-gun laws, they use racism as a way to take firearms away from people.