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* WGEM…
Illinois state lawmakers continue to discuss the best strategies to address rising gun violence across the state. The House Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force heard more ideas from gun control advocates and supporters of the Second Amendment Thursday. […]
Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) told the task force that it is also important to think about gun violence caused by people who are licensed. Ford said he was disappointed that several people told lawmakers Thursday that FOID holders and a right to carry don’t commit crimes.
“I wouldn’t say that,” NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde interjected. “I would say that they’re on the lower end of the percentages where that occurs.” […]
“I think that’s our goal and it should be all our goals to make sure that we protect people and protect our communities,” Ford said. “Hopefully, we can continue to have these dialogues and conversations about ways to do that and not have a stonewall against finding common ground.”
* Meanwhile, here’s the Daily Herald…
In the wake of this summer’s mass shooting in downtown Highland Park, Democratic state Rep. Martin Moylan of Des Plaines and his Republican challenger, Michael M. Lupo of Park Ridge, shared differing views on what the state might be able to do to curb gun violence, including whether a ban on assault weapons should be a part of a solution. […]
Lupo said Illinois and Chicago already have some of the nation’s strictest gun laws. But stepped-up scrutiny of the validity status of firearm owners’ ID cards could be one way to make improvements, he added. […]
“As far as the mass shootings, I believe we need to come up with a comprehensive plan,” he said. “Maybe with a committee or a council in Springfield — bipartisan with some mental health experts as well. And to be honest with you, I wouldn’t be opposed to temporarily halting the sale of high-powered and high-capacity rifles while that’s getting done. … It’s something that we need to take seriously and we need to take the mental health aspects seriously as well.”
Moylan said he supports the proposed statewide ban on assault weapons.
“That’s a first step,” he said. “But there’s more than just the ban on weapons. Individuals like this person (in Highland Park) will find some type of device to inflict harm on as many people as possible. So besides the ban on assault rifles, we have to get back to the mental health issue.”
Republican lawmakers who say they are fed up with Democratic efforts to lessen the penalties for drug dealers in Illinois have introduced new legislation.
Last April, the House narrowly passed a measure that lowered the criminal penalties for what they call low-level possession of drugs like fentanyl and heroin. Misdemeanors under the bill include possession of less than five grams of cocaine, less than five pills of most scheduled III substances such as Xanax and Valium, and less than 40 pills of oxycodone and similar painkillers. […]
Republicans have introduced legislation designed to allow state attorneys to prosecute fentanyl dealers. […]
The measure also provides that, “in addition to any other penalties imposed for the manufacture or delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, not less than 6 years and not more than 30 years shall be imposed for any amount of carfentanil in excess of 150 milligrams that is stored or transmitted as a powder, blotter paper, tablet, patch, or spray if the product fails to include a warning label and an accompanying rescue level of naloxone.”
* WAND…
The Illinois State Police is awarding $1 million in grants to 32 local law enforcement agencies across Illinois.
The grant money will be used to conduct firearm enforcement efforts to help keep guns out of the hand of people who pose a significant threat to themselves or others.
“While the Illinois State Police has had great success in reducing expressway shootings in the Chicago area compared to this time last year, we continue to face a gun violence epidemic in this country and we need every possible resource at our disposal to combat it,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “These grants to local law enforcement agencies can help prevent a potential tragedy in our communities and I want to thank agencies across the state who have signed up to help with enforcement efforts.”
In July, ISP offered grants to law enforcement agencies to conduct enforcement operations for individuals whose Firearm Owner Identification Card have been revoked or suspended as a result of being prohibited by state or federal law.
posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 9:48 am
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Rep Ford said “I think that’s our goal and it should be all our goals to make sure that we protect people and protect our communities,”. But the goal of gun lobbyists like Todd is to make sure that gun fetishists can get as many guns as they want. The problem is that the gun lobby has had the money to make its goal our current reality. Sorry too be such a downer but the criminally easy availability of guns will continue until guns are identified as a public health issue and gun ownership becomes as socially desirable as smoking.
Comment by SouthSideGT Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 10:05 am
It’s just funny how strongly The Center Square tries to spin everything. The House “narrowly” passed a law for what “they call” low-level possession. Then it just states point blank that these people are fentanyl dealers, no qualification at all. Each and every word they choose is aimed at distortion and propaganda.
Comment by Perrid Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 10:08 am
The implementation of an assault weapons ban or high cap magazine ban will do nothing to address the gun crime issue. ARs, AKs, Mini-14, M1As and any assortment of handguns using what is classified as a high capacity magazine have been on the market to varying degrees for over 40 years and are very popular with shooters. Most standard sized handguns use what is now classified as a high cap magazine and Sig Sauer and Springfield Armory are making conceal carry pistols (smaller than standard sized handguns) with what could be classified as high cap magazines. Long story short, you’re closing the door after the horse has left the barn.
I agree with Moylan that we need more investment in mental health. Address that and you address a lot of other issues (homelessness, drug addiction, gun violence between rival groups in turf wars over drug dealing).
And good on the ISP for providing resources to go after the guns of people who have had their foids revoked. Instead of making new laws, let’s give law enforcement the tools they need to enforce the ones already on the books.
SouthSideGT: guns and ammunition are not easy to get in Illinois. Every time I buy a firearm or ammunition, whether from a dealer or an individual or at a gun show, I have to show my FOID card which is then compared to my drivers license before I can even touch a gun. When I make the purchase it goes through an ISP background check, and in purchasing a firearm I then have to wait at least 3 days (some people were waiting longer for approval when ISP was backed up a couple years ago) before I can put it in a case and in a location in my car that is not easily accessible and take it home. If I buy a gun online, I have to have it shipped to a federally licensed dealer, pay the dealer a transfer fee and pay sales taxes, and go through the process above before I can take possession. At the end of the day, a gun is an inanimate object incapable of thought or moral determination, just like a car or a computer, it’s only as good or as bad as the person using it.
Comment by Notorious JMB Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 11:04 am
=== At the end of the day, a gun is an inanimate object incapable of thought or moral determination, just like a car or a computer, it’s only as good or as bad as the person using it.==
At the end of the day so are drugs, heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, alcohol.
Does this mean we shouldn’t regulate them?
Comment by Da big bad wolf Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 11:35 am
=== Every time I buy a firearm or ammunition, whether from a dealer or an individual or at a gun show, I have to show my FOID card which is then compared to my drivers license before I can even touch a gun.===
My FOID is next to my driver’s license and both are next to my credit cards in my purse. It really is exhausting to pull them out of my purse. I usually need to rest after doing that.
Comment by Da big bad wolf Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 11:37 am
Mental health, repeat offenders and the failed war on drugs are the three of the areas serious improvements are required.
We have to also address the cultural issues where some believe violence is a tool to overcome perceived disrespect.
We must come to terms how we deal with violent individuals. Do we imprison them and offer rehabilitation while imprisoned or do we decide to blame guns and forget the individuals culpability who committed the crime?
It is a fantasy to believe if we ban something the problems of violence will go away. It only creates an underground market and to protect that market violence escalates relative to the value of the item is.
Comment by FormerParatrooper Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 11:52 am
>>>>make sure that gun fetishists can get as many guns as they want.
It’s so easy to use this kind of pejorative on people exercising an enumerated right.
The same people who issue statements like this will wonder why gun owners don’t jump on board to be stripped of their rights and possessions.
Comment by We've never had one before Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 12:03 pm
so tired of people saying that regulating big clips or assault style weapons will do nothing. tell that to police who get shot at regularly. tell that to the children of Uvalde. Maybe you’re willing to look at photos of bodies dead from such weapons to see that it’s not just bullet holes, it’s bodies shredded. wise up.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 12:05 pm
Notorious JMB has stated the issue extremely well. There are no quick and easy answers when people are committed to violence. The issuance of a FOID card and a rigorous check of the individuals obtaining them is about the best we can do.
Comment by unafraid Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 12:08 pm
@Big Bad Wolf What regulations did I propose eliminating? As my previous statement showed, legal firearm ownership is already regulated by the state and simply needs to be enforced.
Comment by Notorious JMB Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 12:10 pm
Ah, the usual competition by politicians to see what they can ban or restrict next because locking people up isn’t fair. Kwame’s gonna get tired of losing lawsuits since SCOTUS recently found 5 other state’s bans or restrictions unconstitutional (NY’s “good cause to carry”, Maryland’s rifle ban, HI’ good cause to carry” and New Jersey’s and CA’s magazine capacity limits. Illinois will learn the hard way that the 2nd Amendment is as protected as other Amendments going forward.
Comment by thisjustinagain Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 12:30 pm
===What regulations did I propose eliminating?===
You didn’t make the case against eliminating a current regulation. You were making the case against a future regulation.
“The implementation of an assault weapons ban or high cap magazine ban will do nothing to address the gun crime issue.”
The idea being that the people who want such weapons already have them.
New people are turning 18 everyday, though. And a ban could make it harder for them to get them.
In 1994 Clinton signed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act which expired in 2004.
Some say the ban worked. It didn’t absolutely stop gun crimes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/was-last-assault-weapons-ban-effective-flna1B8004972
Comment by Da big bad wolf Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 1:08 pm
Southside. My job was to protect the rights of gun owners and those that might want to be
You might want to figure out what ur gonna do when the foid card goes away among other things. New lawsuit was filed this week on the ban on carry on mass transit and were just getti g warmed up
Comment by Todd Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 2:23 pm
“At the end of the day, a gun is an inanimate object incapable of thought or moral determination, just like a car or a computer, it’s only as good or as bad as the person using it.”
What do you “suppose” about the morals of the kids who die tragically from accidental discharge?
Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 2:40 pm
“SouthSideGT: guns and ammunition are not easy to get in Illinois.”
Where you live?…I’ll bet a cup of coffee I can cash buy a firearm within one hour… delivered to my front door…anywhere poor people live.
Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 2:44 pm
@ Wolf. It’s not that they already have them, it’s that there are too many out there already circulating among the general populace and among the criminal element that a ban will have no impact. An awb goes into effect what do you do with the ones that are already circulating? Your strategy relies on current owners simply dying off which will only take about 60 years to have an appreciable effect. But their guns will still be around and functioning assuming ammunition is available and they’ve been properly maintained.
Comment by Notorious JMB Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 3:34 pm
Addiction is not a crime…it’s a disordered disease that can be treated and arrested, if never “cured”…the words “homeless” and “addict” exist to make those who persecute poor sick people feel better about themselves.
Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Sep 23, 22 @ 4:00 pm