I was originally planning a nuclear fisking on that garbage Hack“Fact” Check put out on Obama and guns, but others have beaten me to the punch in a well-deserved fisk-for-all, so instead I’ll focus on one particular aspect of their piece, the supposed refutation of the NRA’s accurate claim that Obama supports banning the use of firearms for home self-defense. Annenberg Political Fact Check (let’s call them “Annenberg Political” for short) non-explains their decision to label this true claim “false” thusly (links in original):

The NRA bases this overheated claim on a vote Obama cast on March 24, 2004, in the Illinois state Senate. He was one of 20 who opposed SB 2165. That bill, which passed 38 – 20 and became law, did not make it a crime to use firearms for self-defense, however.

That has got to be the most disingenuous use of the word “however” I’ve seen in any screed not written by Glenn Greenwald or Andrew Sullivan. No one ever claimed that SB 2165 itself criminalized the use of firearms for self-defense. The whole point of the NRA’s position – and mine, for that matter, and that of even most Democrats in the Illinois Senate at the time – is that Barack Obama’s opposition to SB 2165 effectively ratified the acts of rogue municipalities like Wilmette which criminalized self-defense with firearms by prohibiting them altogether.

Rather, it created a loophole for persons caught violating local gun registration laws.

Rather, it had nothing to do with registration (more on that in a sec) but anytime you see the word “loophole” on a web site purporting to deal only in facts, run. There is no objective definition of “loophole,” at least not when the alleged “loophole” was created deliberately rather than unintentionally. Inadvertent loopholes arise every now and then, but when the Legislature acts on purpose, the best that can be said about “loopholes” is that one man’s “loophole” is another’s reasonable limitation on an otherwise oppressive law. If Illinois’s baby step toward preemption is a “loophole,” what on earth would Annenberg Political call the much more comprehensive preemption laws in most other states (including such rootin’ tootin’ gun owners’ paradises as … er … California)?

It states that in any Illinois municipality where gun registration is required it shall be an “affirmative defense” if the person accused of violating the registration requirement can show that the weapon was used “in an act of self-defense or defense of another … when on his or her land or in his or her abode or fixed place of business.”

Annenberg Political made that up. The actual law, codified at 720 ILCS 5/24-10, says nothing about registration, which should come as no surprise seeing as its catalyst was the persecution of Hale DeMar, who was not charged with possessing an unregistered handgun (Wilmette had no procedure for registration), but for having a handgun, period. Here’s what the real, unvarnished, unannenbergized statute says:

It is an affirmative defense to a violation of a municipal ordinance that prohibits, regulates, or restricts the private ownership of firearms if the individual who is charged with the violation used the firearm in an act of self-defense or defense of another as defined in Sections 7-1 and 7-2 of this Code when on his or her land or in his or her abode or fixed place of business.

Unlike the would-be fact-checkers at Annenberg Political, the Illinois General Assembly forgot to even mention registration. No matter; Annenberg Political forges ahead, making up in smarm what they lack in substance:

Letting the owner of an unregistered firearm escape the penalty for failing to register is one thing, but it’s another thing entirely to make it a crime to use any firearm – registered or not – in self-defense.

Again, Hale DeMar had no opportunity to register his firearm. No Illinois ordinance of which I’m aware would have provided that opportunity; Wilmette certainly didn’t. This leaves only two possibilities:

1. Annenberg Political is run by a group of lazy hacks who have never heard of Hale DeMar or even bothered to read 720 ILCS 5/24-10 before weighing in on its supposed content.
2. Annenberg Political is run by a group of liars who have no intention of checking facts.

The bill came about after Hale DeMar, of Wilmette, Ill., shot a burglar who had invaded his home. At the time, Wilmette had an ordinance that prohibited owning handguns.

There went the first possibility.