Gun industry sales soar: East Dundee officials predict G.A.T. Guns will be the second largest generator of sales tax dollars in the village only behind Walmart.

For you folks not familiar with the Chicago area retail firearms landscape, GAT Guns has been in business selling guns, ammo and fishing tackle, along with operating an indoor shooting range since the '80s. Located in Dundee IL, just a stone's throw from the border of Cook County, GAT just recently finished a major renovation and expansion which includes additional indoor range space, more than doubling the number of shooting lanes. 

It's no coincidence they chose to locate just across the county border line. Cook County liberals, look hard at the tax revenues you have forsaken:

G.A.T. Guns now a part of East Dundee

The village of East Dundee has annexed several properties on Route 25, including G.A.T. Guns, which officials predict will be the second-largest generator of tax revenue in town behind Walmart.

East Dundee officials sweetened the deal by agreeing to finance G.A.T. Guns' $5.5 million expansion.

The expansion would add 24 indoor shooting-range lanes for high-caliber rifles and 10 indoor lanes for handguns, where there are now 24.

The money, which would come from a tax increment finance district — where property taxes that go to local governments are frozen at a certain point and taxes above that point go back into development — also would improve the building and its parking lot. As part of the agreement, the business has to stay in town for 12 years.

G.A.T. Guns sells firearms and gun accessories and offers shooting ranges for practice. Its clientele is a mix of civilians and law-enforcement officers.

G.A.T. stands for "guns, ammo, training." The company has been around since 1979 but in its current location since 1988. The business has more than 6,000 firearms on hand at any given time and has been honored for recruiting members for the National Rifle Association, said Greg Tropino Jr., who runs it with his father.

"We already are one of the largest private facilities in the country and this (expansion) allows us to be at least the largest gun range in the country that's privately held and allows us to be much bigger and better," Tropino said.
The expansion should start within the next two weeks and end this winter, Tropino said.

Without the expansion, the business was expected to generate $365,000 in combined sales and amusement tax revenues in the first year, interim Village Administrator Bob Skurla said.

"That would be the size of a small- to medium-size car dealer," Skurla said, adding that the number should grow as the business expands. "I think you can see, going down the road, that the sales tax and the amusement tax to the village could conceivably get to $1 million."

East Dundee officials have agreed not to interfere with G.A.T. Guns' daily operations.

The vote took place Saturday, so the village could start collecting sales taxes and the 5 percent amusement tax on the first of the month, Skurla said.

But East Dundee Trustee Allen Skillicorn said the meeting should have been held Monday to give the public a chance to attend and give input.

"It would be nice if it was a little transparent," Skillicorn said. "The legal requirements were there, but it was a little fast-paced."

Other properties annexed into East Dundee on Saturday were Pampered Pets, MAS Accounting, The Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation and a pair of private residential properties. As a result, East Dundee's limits have been extended another half mile south on Route 25.

The village is still in talks to annex the Milk Pail and Sierra Studio.

I've spent may hours in the range at GAT back when there were few places to shoot in the Chicago area. I will always stop in when I'm in the area. Congratulations to GAT on your expansion, and thanks for keeping the faith during the hard times. And congratulations to the officials of East Dundee IL for making a smart choice for the future of your village and it's taxpayers.

Chicago homicide numbers out of control, Rahm demands any and all action be taken including reclassification of "homicide" to "natural causes"

It's a true story about a 25 yr old doper who got beaten to death (blunt force trauma to the head) by her father. Originally classified by officers on the scene as a homicide, the Medical Examiner would later reclassify the cause of death as "natural causes."

This directly from Second City Cop blog:

• Loses consciousness after a beating at the hands of her father, dies on scene with paramedics present, classified as a homicide. But a bloody January weekend and a desperate need to keep homicides under 40 results in the highlighted line in picture #1:

• ME ruled death NATURAL - Pulmonary Embolism, victim was struck in head by father who is in custody.

• Any doctors want to let the readers know if a beating with documented head trauma might be enough to cause or loosen existing blood clots that might lead to a pulmonary embolism - and death?

• We imagine that this one is going to disappear down the memory hole in short order. See that unchecked box at the top left the first photo? "Confidential Incident." Expect that to be changed before 9 AM this morning and expect an order to be cut that ALL homicides, death investigations and similar incidents will be checked as "confidential" until such time as our political and department masters deem it worthy of being observed by the masses.

• Hey Zekman? (fyi: CBS investigative reporter in Chicago) How about instead of picking on coppers going through a tedious process, you look at the manipulation of numbers - you know, like when you used to be an actual reporter. All the numbers Pammy, because you know no one is going to care about a dead black dope head. Maybe you can get Jesse involved to see why Rahman-Noodle and McCompStat are downgrading a case where the only casualty is a dead minority woman.

There's some serious panic at City Hall and CPD HQ. Last year's homicide number went past 500 in the last few day of the 2012, and now even though we're in the midst of a cold wintry season murder numbers are off to a scorching start, already well above last years rate. Chicago's violence "problem" has become national news, much to the embarrassment of Rahm and his former boss and Chicago homeboy Obama. Meanwhile, Rahm is pushing for even more restrictive gun legislation (doesn't Illinois/Chicago already have the most oppressive gun legislation in the nation?) and his Superintendent of Police seems only able to announce weekly tactical changes and manipulate the numbers as best he can.

Mayor McSmirk's Dopey Deputy is in trouble. This is the same idiot who has said he will encourage Chicago cops to shoot legally armed citizens:

Obama also number 1 NRA membership salesman

Not only is Obama the nation's number 1 gun and hi-cap magazine salesman, he has also been recognized for leading the recent NRA membership drive. 100k new members in the last 18 days. That's an enrollment rate of 230 new members per hour, nearly 4 new members per minute. I hope the NRA at least sent him a hat and bumper sticker.

NRA: 100,000 new members after Sandy Hook shooting

By KATIE GLUECK | 1/10/13 9:35 AM EST

The National Rifle Association has gained more than 100,000 new members in the past 18 days, the organization told POLITICO’s Playbook on Thursday.The number of paid new members jumped from 4.1 million to 4.2 million during that time.

“Our goal is to get to 5 million before this debate is over,” the NRA told POLITICO’s Mike Allen.

Those comments come as Vice President Joe Biden gears up to meet with NRA representatives Thursday to discuss gun policy after the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., prompted a national conversation on the subject.

“We are willing to talk to policymakers about any reasonable proposals and plans,” an NRA official said in the Playbook report, regarding the upcoming meeting with Biden. “However, the NRA is hearing not just from Beltway elites and the chattering class, but real Americans all over the country that are hoping the NRA is not going to compromise on any of the principles of the Second Amendment, nor are we going to support banning guns. But we’re willing to listen.”

To join the NRA, one must pay $25. In return, new members may choose to receive a “Rosewood Handle Knife, Black & Gold Duffel Bag or Digital Camo Duffel Bag,” the Playbook report said.

PMAG AR15 Magazine Backorders Top 1 Million

I don't like to re-post unconfirmed information, but this is just too good to ignore: A friend of a friend of MAGPUL Industries, manufacturer of the PMAG hi-cap magazines for AR-type rifles, says he has heard that PMAG backorders have topped 1 million. If you've never heard of MAGPUL PMAGs, use the Google and find out. 

This is second-hand info, but my guess is it's probably close to the truth: 

With Barack Obama, Feinstein, Rahm, Bloomberg, Cuomo et al. selling guns (primarily semi-autos) and high-cap magazines at levels that previously were only a wet dream for the firearms industry, you would think they might open a gun shop and take advantage of the market conditions to help out with the deficient.