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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION URGING THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO INSTITUTE STATEWIDE LICENSING AND REGULATION OF GUN DEALERS AND RANGES
WHEREAS, on average 1,000 people die each year from gunshot wounds in our state. The gun death toll in Illinois in 2013 included 576 homicides and 496 suicides; and
WHEREAS, guns are used in over 70% of all homicides in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, the price of one gun homicide costs an average of $441,000 in direct costs (including law enforcement, medical expenses, court costs, and prison), of which 87% is paid by taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, each gun death averages about $6 million in total costs, including both direct and indirect costs; and
WHEREAS, Chicago police officers recover more than twice the number of crime guns per capita than in Los Angeles, and more than seven times than in New York City; and
WHEREAS, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives ("ATF") almost all the guns recovered after being used in crimes were originally sold by retail dealers; and
WHEREAS, corrupt gun dealers represent a major source of illegally trafficked firearms, making oversight of dealers critical; and
WHEREAS, between 2009 and 2013, four particular gun dealers, each located a short drive outside Chicago, supplied 20% of all guns recovered from Chicago crime scenes. These stores supplied thousands of crime guns; and
WHEREAS, firearms dealers are subject to very little federal oversight, and on average are inspected only once a decade, primarily because ATF lacks the resources and authority to monitor the 138,000 gun dealers, manufacturers, collectors, and others that it licenses; and
WHEREAS, lack of oversight makes it far too easy for gun dealers to turn a blind eye to "straw purchasers," and other traffickers who fill out the paperwork and undergo background checks in order to provide guns to criminals or other people ineligible to possess guns; and
WHEREAS,...
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