[url]http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-020131guns.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed[/url]
Daley, suburban officials push local gun laws
Tribune staff reports
Published January 30, 2002, 1:12 PM CST
Joined by officials from 12 suburbs, Mayor Richard Daley today chided the state legislature for failing last year to pass bills banning assault weapons and licensing gun shops, and he called on individual municipalities to enact local ordinances to do so.
"These two reasonable proposals would protect our citizens without causing the slightest inconvenience to law-abiding hunters, sport shooters or people who feel a gun is necessary to protect their home," Daley said at a news conference at Chicago police headquarters.
Daley made his remarks with representatives of Safe Communities Fighting Gun Violence, whose members include Chicago, Buffalo Grove, Elmwood Park, Evanston, Lynwood, Midlothian, Melrose Park, Northbrook, Oak Lawn, Palatine, Prospect Heights, Riverdale and Wilmette.
"We'll continue to fight in Springfield, but we do not intend to sit on our hands waiting for the General Assembly to act," Daley said. "We intend to pass these measures at the local level, village by village."
Chicago and some suburbs already have adopted local ordinances banning assault weapons and licensing gun dealers, officials said.
A model ordinance endorsed by the group would declare unlawful the sale and possession of 60 specific models of assault rifles and pistols, and magazines with a capacity of more than 12 rounds. Federal law already bans the sale of assault weapons, but Daley said that measure has too many loopholes and is due to expire soon.
The model ordinance also would license gun dealers and require them to report gun sales to local police departments.
Sales information would be entered into a computer database that could be made available on request to other law enforcement agencies. Also, if a resident of one municipality purchased a gun in another, that information would be reported to the buyer's hometown. The measure also would prohibit dealers from selling handguns to residents of Chicago and other municipalities that have banned the private ownership of such firearms.