Righty, nationalize the gun law background checks so Chicago doesn't have so many illegal weapons brought in from IN in particular.
And just to play with words, and your fact-challenged assertions, stop bringing a knife to a gun fight.
And just to play with words, and your fact-challenged assertions, stop bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Quote:Out-of-State Imports
https://robinkelly.house.gov/media-center/in-...-come-from
About six in ten “crime guns” seized by Chicago Police originated from gun shops outside of Illinois, according to a 2017 report issued by the department. Crime guns are defined by law enforcement as those that are “illegally possessed, used, or suspected to be used in furtherance of a crime.”
In about 95 percent of cases, the person found in possession of a crime gun is not the original purchaser of the weapon, the report said.
The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranks Illinois’ gun laws as the eighth toughest in the country. The state requires citizens to have a permit to buy firearms and to report stolen or lost guns. Residents who want to sell their guns privately are also required to solicit a background check from state officials and to submit documentation of the sale.
No such laws exist in neighboring states such as Indiana, making them a target for traffickers seeking to sell weapons on the black market in Chicago.
About 21 percent of guns confiscated by police in Chicago are traced back to gun shops across the border in Indiana, a short drive from the city.
After conducting gun offender surveys and crime analysis, the CPD concluded that “states with lax gun laws like Indiana and Mississippi are a primary target for gang members and their gun trafficker source buyers.”
The CPD’s report identifies a number of specific gun shops in Indiana and the suburbs of Illinois that supply the largest number of guns that end up being seized by police.
A co-owner of one such shop — Midwest Sporting Goods in Lyons, Il. — told The Globe Post there’s little the shop can do to prevent straw purchases.
“Unfortunately, you can’t be a mind reader,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot you can do.”
Solutions
Further complicating police investigations is the lack of federal oversight on gun trafficking issues. Illinois officials can only prosecute state residents for gun trafficking, and federal resources to combat illegal inter-state sales are slim.
Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-Il.), who represents many of Chicago’s districts with the highest rates of gun violence, is backing a law that would make gun trafficking a federal crime and allow national law enforcement agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, to play a greater role in investigating these crimes.
“Our common sense gun safety laws have been rendered ineffective thanks to dangerous, counterproductive laws in Indiana, Wisconsin and elsewhere. These lax laws make it easy for criminals to traffic weapons, for dangerous individuals to get firearms,” Kelly, who serves as vice chair of House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, told The Globe Post.
Kelly is a vocal proponent of the Federal Gun Trafficking Act that was proposed in 2017. Though it has 82 co-sponsors, including three Republicans, the bill has not yet advanced out of committee.
