I wonder if Mr Thomas Mannard (Executive Director, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence) has more than one butcher knife in his kitchen. What if he had 10, or even a hundred???? How many butcher knifes are too many. What about automobiles (I have 6) how many of these are too many?? The same thing goes with baseball bats, duct tape, phone cords, speaker wire, paper weights and a countless other ‘lethal’ items that could be (and have been) used to undermine public safety and kill people. And as far as being a ‘burglar’s dream’, the same would hold true for a 600 piece coin collection, stamp collection, baseball cards, or Barbie Doll collection. Hell, I’ll bet a 600 piece Pez dispenser collection would bring more money to a burglar. Firearms are usually sold for a fraction of their value because of the stiff consequences of being caught with a stolen firearm, which is serially controlled. Add this to the fact that 600 firearms (even if half are pistols) will weigh nearly 3000 pounds. Not something an amateur burglar would attempt to unload.
But above everything else is the fact that firearms ownership is a protected right and not even Pez dispensers hold that distinction. Beside, at first glance, it looks like this guy was just selling off his ‘personal’ firearms that were left over when the government took away his license for a ‘zoning’ violation. The city of Chicago may have annexed his shop, or he got caught up in the ATF ruling stating you must sell from a storefront. So, he logs all his firearms over to himself, turns in his book to the ATF, waits the required 1-year timeframe to validate that the firearms are now his personal collection, then sells them to private citizens in his own state. Nothing illegal here that I see as far as federal law, but it’s been a while since I have read up 01 dealer responsibilities --- plus, Mundelein may be under Chicago’s control and Illinois is getting pretty strict on gun sales also.