By Susan Duclos
The New York Times explains Barack Obama's proposal for newer, tougher gun laws, which to his way of thinking should reduce gun violence:
Mr. Obama’s plan included 4 major legislative proposals and 23 executive actions that he initiated on his own authority to bolster enforcement of existing laws, improve the nation’s database used for background checks and otherwise make it harder for criminals and people with mental illness to get guns.
Mr. Obama asked Congress to reinstate and strengthen a ban on the sale and production of assault weapons that passed in 1994 and expired in 2004. He also called for a ban on the sale and production of magazines with more than 10 rounds..
Those are not novel ideas, nor new.... those gun laws are already implemented in Illinois.
Illinois has the following gun laws: To legally possess firearms or ammunition, Illinois residents must have a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card, issued by the state police. There is a waiting period to take possession after purchasing a firearm — 72 hours for a handgun, or 24 hours for a rifle or shotgun. Possession of automatic firearms, short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, or silencers is prohibited.
Chicago, having the strictest gun laws in the nation, goes a step further:
registration of all firearms, residents must complete a firearm safety course, pass a background check including fingerprinting, buy a permit which is renewed every three years and have banned the possession of "assault weapons" and of magazines that can hold more than 10 or 12 rounds of ammunition.
Let's see how those tough gun laws actually work in just one city of Illinois: Chicago.
Via CBS News Chicago, January 21, 2013- "17 Shot, 2 Killed Over Weekend In Chicago"
Weekend gun violence in Chicago left two men dead and at least 14 other people wounded, including a man shot during a party in the Loop’s historic Palmer House Hilton Hotel.
Maybe Obama should start looking towards ideas that haven't already failed instead of exploiting tragedies to push his gun grabbing agenda.
