On Monday, June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Chicago’s 28-year-old handgun ban unconstitutional. Over the next four days, Mayor Daley muscled the Chicago City Council into passing a hastily drafted ordinance that places a whole new set of limitations and regulations on gun ownership in the city.
“It’s something he’s got to have if he’s running for reelection next year,” the alderman said.
“To me this is the kind of forward-looking thinking we need to embrace in every area of government,” Daley said. “We need to conduct pilot programs, be creative and even bold in our thinking and approaches.”
“I think everybody understands the frustration that people have in regards to guns, you know, in that instance. And I think we understand that. But again, the access to guns in America, the access today, it’s higher than any period of time in America. And guns on the street will kill people. It’s the access to guns that you have in America. And I’m not arguing about this instance. I understand some frustration that’s taken place. But access to guns in America will destroy America faster than any war in America . . .”
He grabbed his papers from the podium and walked out of the room.
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For starters, Weis acknowledged that murders were up slightly, from 158 in 2009 to 164 in 2010. “Homicides continue to challenge us,” he said.
But most of them were seized for violations of state or federal gun laws. Weis couldn’t say how the city’s gun ban might be helping stop or even slow the flow of arms into the city.
