Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Springfield City Council is considering an ordinance that might require certain types of what are called “secondhand dealers” to be licensed.
That could end up being some types of pawn shops — at least, city corporation counsel Greg Moredock says — that aren’t already licensed by the state.
“We have other secondhand dealers who might not necessarily fall under the state definition of a pawn shop that take in items for resale, specifically, copper,” said Moredock. “Copper is a big one, where they can take it in, get money for copper, and they’re not licensed under the state.”
Copper continues to be highly sought after by thieves, possibly to exchange for cash.
Such secondhand dealers, Moredock says if approved, would be subject to the same rules as other pawn shops.
“I just want to look into this a little stronger, to make sure we don’t have unintended consequences for yard sales and some of these other things,” said Ald. Shawn Gregory, Ward 2. “I just rolled by a place that had a bazaar-type of sale thing they were doing.”
That said, Gregory feels he understands what might be happening in order to try and curtail things like copper thefts.
The ordinance proposal will be discussed further at next week’s council meeting.
