Il Suburbs give Daley support against guns

Suburbs give Daley support against gunsLocal laws sought against weaponsBy Gary WashburnTribune staff reporterPublished January 31, 2002After repeatedly failing to win passage of tough gun control legislation in Springfield, Mayor Richard Daley and 12 suburban mayors on Wednesday announced they now will push for local laws to help get the job done.Daley unveiled a model ordinance that would require gun dealers to have municipal licenses and another that would ban the sale and possession of assault weapons. His suburban allies said they would seek passage in their own villages and enlist support from colleagues to do the same in neighboring municipalities. "Crime does not recognize municipal boundaries," Elmwood Park President Peter Silvestri said at a news conference at Chicago's police headquarters. "Gang members do not stop at community borders."The fight for new gun control measures will continue in Springfield, "but we do not intend to sit on our hands waiting for the General Assembly to act," Daley said. "We intend to pass these measures at the local level, village by village."Under the model licensing ordinance, dealers would be required to report all gun sales to their local police departments, and that information would be entered into computers and made available to other law enforcement agencies. The gun shops would be prohibited from selling weapons to residents of Chicago, Evanston and other municipalities that ban the private ownership of handguns.Violation of provisions of the ordinance--including one that requires "reasonable precautions" be taken that firearms sold would not be used illegally--could lead to suspension or loss of license."The big innovation is the joint database and the ability to have a revocation proceeding," said Lawrence Rosenthal, a city deputy corporation counsel."Let's be clear about this," Daley declared. "A resident of Chicago or one of its suburbs is much more likely to be killed or injured by a local resident with a gun than by an international terrorist. Some 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. It does not diminish the tragedy of that day one bit to point out that more than 3,000 victims are killed by firearms every six weeks in the United States."The proposals drew the expected response from the pro-gun lobby.Daley and his allies "are just so fanatical, so paranoid about 1.2 million lawful gun owners in this state that they are willing to try to trash the sport and the Constitution," declared Todd Vandermyde, legislative liaison for the National Rifle Association. The 12 suburbs "don't have all the gun shops in the state," he said. "He is simply going to drive [dealers] to other areas, because there are communities that don't agree with him."The mayors or village presidents of Buffalo Grove, Elmwood Park, Evanston, Lynwood, Midlothian, Melrose Park, Northbrook, Oak Lawn, Palatine, Prospect Heights, Riverdale and Wilmette signed on to the new legislative effort.Chicago already has gun shop licensing and assault weapons ban ordinances. Several of the suburbs have either a licensing requirement or assault gun ban, though not necessarily with provisions as comprehensive as those in the new model ordinances.Copyright c 2002, Chicago Tribune http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/mchenry/chi-0201310022jan31.story