Governor to shore up gun control (Illinois)

Governor to shore up gun control
Screening to expand; anti-data bill doomed

By Christi Parsons
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 29, 2005


After a decade of work by gun-control activists, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday plans to sign a new state law requiring background checks for all buyers at gun shows, closing what police say is a wide-open avenue for gangs and other illegal purchasers to get firearms.

In a second action also supported by many law-enforcement officials, Blagojevich plans this weekend to veto a measure that would have required the Illinois State Police to clear out most records of background checks within 90 days of their creation.

That measure, if not rejected by the governor, would obliterate a database that police say helps them track the buying habits of gunrunners who supply gangs and other criminals with firearms.
(snip)

Critics complain that the governor is being unfair by refusing to do away with the database, which they say police use to harass law-abiding gun owners. Gun groups predict Blagojevich could suffer among Downstate voters who value their right to bear arms.
But Blagojevich is betting that voters will view his actions as common-sense crime-fighting measures.
(snip/...)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0507290247jul29,1,6045153.story?coll=chi-news-hed
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a gun show? Is there any proof that such private sales are "wide-open avenue for gangs and other illegal purchasers to get firearms"?

I believe background checks are already required by commercial sales at gun shows.

At present, only federally licensed firearm dealers have to conduct criminal background checks. Police have long maintained that illegal buyers attend the gun shows and buy guns from unlicensed dealers, who aren't required to call the state police hotline to check backgrounds when selling at the shows.

To close that so-called loophole, lawmakers sent two versions to the governor.

One version was a compromise backed by the NRA. It contained the provision requiring the state police to clear their records of background checks 90 days after approval.

But in a victory for gun-control forces--and especially Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who has championed the change for years--lawmakers passed another version of the gun-show bill without the provision for the destruction of records.

On Friday and over the weekend, the governor plans to sign the Daley-backed bill into law and veto the NRA-backed bill, Blagojevich spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.
(snip)

I wouldn't know if this answers your questions, as I've never read any of the material on gun sales, etc. Hope this helps.

:hi:

there's more than ample evidence that gun shows are wide-open avenues for gangs and other illegal purchasers to get firearms.

http://ww2.americansforgunsafety.com/the_issues_gun_loop.asp

http://www.csgv.org/issues/gunshow/

You might also take alook at the Congressional testimony presented in the set of hearings referenced here...

"At the hearing, then-House Crime Subcommittee Chair Charles Schumer (D-NY), who has played a leading role in documenting gun show abuses, questioned Daily:
Schumer: It was obvious that you were violating the law?
Daily: Yes.
Schumer: And these people were dealers—were gun dealers?
Daily: Yes. At each gun show, there were about, maybe 250 tables with different gun dealers, and we would visit maybe 20, 30 tables. Some of them saw me every weekend, and they knew me....`Hi. How's it going....Are you picking up any guns today?'
Schumer: And you always bought from the same few dealers?
Daily: Yes sir, usually the same dealers because they sold the type of weapons that we wanted.
Schumer: And this was always at gun shows?
Daily: Always at gun shows."

http://www.vpc.org/studies/tupcont.htm

Though I support universal firearms sale background checkss, I can only hope that the records being kept indefinitely will not be used in the future as round-up lists, as they were in the UK, AUS, NYC, and, most recently, California . . . :scared:

NOT!

There's no reason to let crooks and crazies evade background checks at gun shows...

Or, do they already have access?


This is a great idea.