CHICAGO has many law-abiding gun owners who handle their weapons safely and responsibly.

The ordinance proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to regulate gun sales in the city is not about them. It’s abo­ut Chicago’s other gun owners: violent thugs who kill….

… The ordinance is an effort to eliminate bad practices and thus curb the supply of illegal weapons. Among its requirements: stores would have to do fingerprinting and backgrou­nd checks on all employees, instal an alarm system and surveillance cameras to prevent thefts, limit sales to one handgun per month to any one person, and videotape sales to deter buyers who use false identification. After gun stores in New York agreed to similar standards, there was a big reduction in the number of illegal guns tra­ced to those stores. … It wouldn’t infringe on anyone’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. …

What this ordinance would do is make life harder for the gun traffickers, gang members and other criminals who have produced endless carnage. ... — (June 1)

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2014