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

Opinion

Editorial

Depopulating Gaza
Updated 07 Feb, 2025

Depopulating Gaza

The least feasible "solution" is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter.
‘Pause’ in US aid
07 Feb, 2025

‘Pause’ in US aid

THE impact of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘pause’ all US foreign aid programmes, especially those...
Mobilising opposition
07 Feb, 2025

Mobilising opposition

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. There has not, for quite some time, been a guest list as intriguing as the one...
No time left
Updated 06 Feb, 2025

No time left

Climate change concerns continue to remain a footnote as politics dominates national discourse, surfacing only when disaster strikes.
Karim Aga Khan
06 Feb, 2025

Karim Aga Khan

PRINCE Karim Aga Khan was a man who straddled various worlds and cultures. Beyond his role as spiritual leader of ...
Cotton production
06 Feb, 2025

Cotton production

PAKISTAN’S cotton crop is on the ropes. The crop output has been falling since FY15, when the country harvested a...