http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0701040060jan04,1,3840091.story
Daley aims to pass new gun laws
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 4, 2007
Buoyed by the General Assembly's passage of a gun-control measure amid a long string of rejections, Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday unveiled the city's 2007 legislative agenda with a renewed emphasis on handgun violence.
Daley called for passage of half a dozen bills, to be introduced by local state lawmakers, that would restrict sales and the types and numbers of weapons that Illinoisans could buy.
Noting that guns were involved in more than 80 percent of the 466 murders in Chicago in 2006, Daley said the way to reduce the murder rate "is to continue to get guns off our streets and out of our homes.
"The best way to do it is to pass common-sense legislation that will keep guns out of the hands of people who want to commit crimes with them."
Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, scoffed at the mayor's plans.
"I think it's typical of Daley's rhetoric," he said. "If it was up to him, nobody would own a gun."
Daley supports measures that would ban assault weapons and .50 caliber weapons, limit handgun purchases to one a month and require state police licensing of handgun dealers. The legislature has rejected those measures in the past.
A new measure would require all gun sales only by licensed dealers so that every purchaser would undergo a mandatory background check. Currently, purchasers who buy from neighbors, friends and other private parties do not undergo such checks.
Daley also supports a measure that would tighten an existing statute mandating trigger locks or other safe-keeping for guns and another proposal that would classify more gun crimes as ones that could lead to suspension or revocation of a driver's license.
Aggravated discharge of a firearm while driving now can result in loss of a license. The new legislation would add such offenses as unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated discharge of a machine gun.
Daley and other gun-control advocates won a victory with passage of a measure that requires background checks of people who buy weapons at gun shows.
With Democrats strengthening their edge in the Senate, state Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said that gun-control advocates have a chance of having all of the proposals passed in the coming session.
"If the NRA realizes they are in trouble and want to negotiate, which they never have in the past, we [could pass] the assault-weapons ban," said Cullerton, who appeared with Daley and other public officials at a news conference at police headquarters. "They always have said, `You inadvertently are banning skeet shooters.' We say, `Fine, sit down and tell us what is wrong with our bill because we do know that weapons that shoot down planes should not be sold.'"
Vandermyde disagreed about prospects for passage.
"I think there is going to be a lot of screaming and hollering," he said, but "I don't think they have the muscle to move this ... agenda through.
"This just becomes a regulatory and bureaucratic snafu to throw more red tape in the path of somebody buying a gun."
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[email protected]
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Daley aims to pass new gun laws
By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 4, 2007
Buoyed by the General Assembly's passage of a gun-control measure amid a long string of rejections, Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday unveiled the city's 2007 legislative agenda with a renewed emphasis on handgun violence.
Daley called for passage of half a dozen bills, to be introduced by local state lawmakers, that would restrict sales and the types and numbers of weapons that Illinoisans could buy.
Noting that guns were involved in more than 80 percent of the 466 murders in Chicago in 2006, Daley said the way to reduce the murder rate "is to continue to get guns off our streets and out of our homes.
"The best way to do it is to pass common-sense legislation that will keep guns out of the hands of people who want to commit crimes with them."
Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, scoffed at the mayor's plans.
"I think it's typical of Daley's rhetoric," he said. "If it was up to him, nobody would own a gun."
Daley supports measures that would ban assault weapons and .50 caliber weapons, limit handgun purchases to one a month and require state police licensing of handgun dealers. The legislature has rejected those measures in the past.
A new measure would require all gun sales only by licensed dealers so that every purchaser would undergo a mandatory background check. Currently, purchasers who buy from neighbors, friends and other private parties do not undergo such checks.
Daley also supports a measure that would tighten an existing statute mandating trigger locks or other safe-keeping for guns and another proposal that would classify more gun crimes as ones that could lead to suspension or revocation of a driver's license.
Aggravated discharge of a firearm while driving now can result in loss of a license. The new legislation would add such offenses as unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated discharge of a machine gun.
Daley and other gun-control advocates won a victory with passage of a measure that requires background checks of people who buy weapons at gun shows.
With Democrats strengthening their edge in the Senate, state Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said that gun-control advocates have a chance of having all of the proposals passed in the coming session.
"If the NRA realizes they are in trouble and want to negotiate, which they never have in the past, we [could pass] the assault-weapons ban," said Cullerton, who appeared with Daley and other public officials at a news conference at police headquarters. "They always have said, `You inadvertently are banning skeet shooters.' We say, `Fine, sit down and tell us what is wrong with our bill because we do know that weapons that shoot down planes should not be sold.'"
Vandermyde disagreed about prospects for passage.
"I think there is going to be a lot of screaming and hollering," he said, but "I don't think they have the muscle to move this ... agenda through.
"This just becomes a regulatory and bureaucratic snafu to throw more red tape in the path of somebody buying a gun."
----------
[email protected]
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
