‘Guns are a plague on too many of our communities’
Raw Story
WGN-TV reported that as of January 1, 2014, the law will require gun sellers to contact a police hotline to confirm that the buyer holds a valid state firearm owners’ identification card (FOID), Authorities vowed to expand their services to meet the demand for the new background checks.
“This law really aims at holding those straw buyers accountable for buying a gun then turning around and giving it to a gang member on the street,” Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said at at the public signing ceremony for the new law, held at a Chicago park where a local police officer, Thomas Wortham IV, was killed in May 2010 by a weapon acquired in such a sale.
Another provision in the law requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to authorities within 72 hours takes effect immediately, making Illinois the eighth state to adopt such a provision.
“Guns are a plague on too many of our communities,” WMAQ-TV quoted Quinn as saying on Sunday. “As I said in my State of the State address earlier this year, making sure guns do not fall into the wrong hands is critical to keeping the people of Illinois safe.”
I sincerely doubt this will make much of a dent in illegally acquired firearms: firearms are durable - they don't break or really wear out and we have a couple hundred million firearms in this country already plus a lot of people have been stocking up out of a variety of paranoia-driven fears.
And people do things illegally to get around laws. Duh.
Many of those weapons were likely purchased for the purpose of re-selling at a higher price, while some, beyond a doubt, were acquired out of pure "they gonna ban muh gun" paranoia. The NRMA (National Rifle Manufacturers Association) applauds such decisions because they result in firearm sales.
This law will increase said paranoia and result in more people stocking up, but I applaud any effort to stem the tide of violence.
I do not support any sort of gun ban but I do support efforts to make sure guns are denied to people who should not have them. I think that includes a whole lot of people. We read about them every day - after the fact.
I don't believe - for a moment - background checks are an undue burden on gun owners. If people can still acquire their guns and keep them, then they can still acquire their guns and keep them. I don't believe guns will ever be "banned".