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* Mayor Daley unveiled his annual gun control proposals yesterday, but the emphasis was on punishment…
The four newly proposed measures would automatically transfer to adult court cases of 15- to 17-year olds arrested with a gun; require at least five years [without parole] behind bars for felons caught with weapons; require 10 years in prison for people who point guns at police and firefighters responding to emergencies; and make it a felony to commit a crime with a child in tow if that child is injured by gunfire.
* The Question: Do you have problems with any of these ideas? Explain fully.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:29 am
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This is a perfect example why gun control does not work. Lets throw a bunch of laws up even though they are already covered by other laws we refuse to enforce.
Any Comment from the Governor on “require at least five years [without parole] behind bars for felons caught with weapons.” yea, because we got extra space in the prison system because Daley has proven to be a miserable failure on creating a safe city.
Comment by the Patriot Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:36 am
Problem? No, other than they are all window dressing, feel-good measures. Virtually all the folks indictable for one of these offenses will otherwise be entangled in the criminal justice system for a closely related offense, so this isn’t really going to pick up anybody new. It will just increase their potential time served. We don’t have enough prison space now or for the foreseeable future, so the actual time served will all be the same as a result of plea bargaining. This is basically surrender to the pro-gun forces.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:39 am
I don’t have a big problem with any of these steps. They seem to reflect a resignation to people having guns and instead of criminalizing guns, they punish stupid behavior with guns. That’s progress, but it’s still not an answer. As a friend said about East St. Louis back in the days of nightly arson and no radios in the police cars, bad things happen when people with no hope get to drinking. Jobs. Education. Responsibility. Somehow.
Comment by Excessively Rabid Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:40 am
No, I don’t have a problem for severe penalties for using a gun in the commission of a crime. Whether the system can accommodate the penalties, I don’t know.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:45 am
I don’t disagree with any of his punishment proposals, but I agree that this Daley presser is window dressing. It’s always some new magic formula and there are already so many forms of punishment on the books. Maybe he’s just used to rolling out X number of new pieces of legislation every year so instead of focusing on ones specific to firearms regulation, he’s got a number that deal with criminals.
also he’s sick of losing so he’s proposing things he can probably win. but, since he’s going out of office, why not get behind the firearms regulation items and not spend the time lobbying on the guns and crimes proposals? Background checks for all gun sales would be good.
Comment by amalia Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 11:58 am
I don’t get it. Why would you expect that news laws, which are more strict than the existing laws, which are not enforced will make a difference in violent crime?
Looks like window dressing at best, or another example of ‘look - there’s a kitty’
I guess one of the real reasons King richard is leaving is that he has simply run out of ideas.
Comment by Plutocrat03 Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:08 pm
What’s the Corrections Note say?
Where is Mayor Daley’s equally impressive press conference fixing our schools, lengthening the school day, expanding after school programs, restoring extra-curricular activities — you know, all the things that keep kids from being pressed into gangs and possessing a gun in the first place?
Gang recruitment in Chicago starts in fifth grade. Think about that for a minute.
And to be frank, Yes, I do have a big legal problem with it. Prosecutors have the discretion to seek transfer to adult court and judges have the discretion to review it — based on the law and the particular facts of the case — for a very good reason.
Sending a 15 year old kid to jail for five years without parole is like sending them to get their undergrad and masters degree in Criminal Behavior.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:10 pm
I would want something in there that it had to be somewhat obvious that they were responding to an emergency and the person would be aware they were acting in an official capacity.
If someone enters a home with a no-knock warrant and the homeowner draws a gun on someone who is entering the house, I am not sure that is worth 10 years.
Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:12 pm
There is already a felony endangerment of a child statute on the books. I haven’t looked at it in a while but I think that it’s safe to say that having a child with you when you commit a crime and having that child get injured would qualify you for a felony under the existing law.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:23 pm
I’m a bigger fan of Chris Rock’s proposal to tax the bullets several thousand/bullet.
Comment by Robert Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:37 pm
I tend to oppose mandatory minimum sentences and stuff like this. I trust judges and juries to make good decisions, and judges should have great discretion in sentencing.
YDD’s point about automatic transfers for juveniles is spot-on. Under existing law, if a judge believes a juvenile charged with a serious crime should be tried as an adult, the judge can already do this.
I think the Mayor is looking for a legacy law and quite frankly, this is a bad one. The General Assembly doesn’t exist to make the Mayor feel good about his time in office.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 12:49 pm
We have mandatory sentencing now for use of a firearm in a crime. 15-20-Life went into effect Jan 1, 2000 (P.A. 91-404) Yet, those charges are plea bargained away everyday.
Oh, and Robert, as usual, that tax would only affect law abiding citizens that actually purchase their ammo in a store that collects sales tax. Not the criminal that buys it on the street or just steals it.
Comment by TimB Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 2:32 pm
Are the proposals intended to reduce gun violence? I doubt they will do much other than make it easier to put repeat offenders in prison longer. A major problem, though, is the widespread tendency of homicides to be committed by first-time offenders (especially at the ages specified in the proposals).
Gun use (criminal or otherwise) won’t go down without a law that would effectively reduce the number of guns — and bullets — in the city. The current US Supreme Court is not interested in that kind of policy.
Comment by Boone Logan Square Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 4:29 pm
-=-I don’t get it. Why would you expect that news laws, which are more strict than the existing laws, which are not enforced will make a difference in violent crime?–
Aren’t Illinois laws pretty strictly enforced? There are plenty of folks in prison, I believe.
If you pull a gun, go to prison for a long time. Once you violate the social contract like that, I don’t want to know you.
I grew up with guys who carried firearms and stupidly pulled them in situations in which they didn’t have to, and I could care less.
I visit their folks on Christmas Eve, I see them when they get out and I go upside their heads. Cry me a river.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 5:18 pm
We don’t know if Daley’s latest scheme would reduce mayhem. But the mandatory imprisonment would certainly cost the state tens of millions of dolllars over the next deacde at a time when we need to reduce spending, not jack it up.
Comment by reformer Tuesday, Feb 15, 11 @ 8:18 pm
@wordslinger -
See my post above. Only 35% of homicides in Chicago are solved: that means they catch the person they think did it.
My point is that increasing penalties has a pretty diminished effect when there’s only a 1 in 3 chance you’ll get caught. And that’s just the case closure rate for homicides.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Feb 16, 11 @ 8:50 am