By Tom Reynolds, SCOPE President
Sinatra: “Chicago, Chicago that toddling town…”
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) appeared on CNN’s State of the Union and asserted “We are being inundated with guns from states that have virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons — that is hurting cities like Chicago.”
Oh really! What are the facts?
Every time anyone in the United States purchases a gun from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL), that FFL runs a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check. And sometimes the FFL checks to see if the buyer has passed a background check via a state-issued concealed-carry permit. Even in states that allow individual private sales, it is illegal to knowingly sell to anyone who you believe is obtaining a firearm for criminal purposes.
How about somebody who crosses state lines to buy a gun? That person undergoes the same NICS background check.
What about those online sales of guns? The exact same laws apply to all online sales.
The vast majority of Americans obtain their guns in one of these ways, and those people rarely commit crimes of any kind, never mind homicides.
On top of all this, every FFL is required by federal law to report to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) the purchase of two or more handguns by the same person within a week. To avoid this requirement, unscrupulous individuals may attempt to use straw purchasers. Too often, officials, especially in “soft on crime” areas like Chicago, will fail to prosecute these straw purchasers. It isn’t as though those laws aren’t already on the books; they are. It’s just that criminals ignore laws and get tacit approval from officials who do not prosecute them.
Most importantly, the “assault-weapons bans” that Lightfoot brings up would have no bearing on Chicago’s murder rate, even if those bans actually worked. The vast majority of gun related murders, (both in Chicago and nationwide) are committed with illegally obtained handguns (not rifles or shotguns). Despite her indefensible vilification of out-of-state gun sellers of handguns and long guns, Chicago has been a poorly run criminal nexus for decades. (Remember “The Untouchables” from the 1930’s?) Black-market handguns make their way to Lori Lightfoot’s city, because there is a huge demand for them by criminals!
Don’t think that politicians like Mayor Lightfoot would be satisfied with turning off the flood of illegal handguns. Presidential candidate Joe Biden has said his gun control plan does not include confiscation of legally owned weapons but he also said that his administration would come for “assault weapons”. America no longer has a federal ban on “assault weapons” so “assault weapons” are legal at the federal level. Biden’s plan has to include making something illegal that is currently legal! Does anyone believe that he and his radical left friends will stop with only making “assault weapons” illegal? As far as leftist politicians are concerned, guns are guns and they should never be in the hands of private citizens, period.
Don’t allow state and local candidates and incumbents—council members, mayors, district attorneys, judges, state senators, assembly members—who think like the Chicago Mayor to take or occupy elected office in New York State. Vote on November 3rd and take a few like-minded friends and neighbors with you.
