Office of the City Clerk - Record #: R2011-333

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result	Action Details	Meeting Details	Captions
3/9/2011		City Council	Introduced (Agreed Calendar)		Action details	Meeting details	Not available
3/9/2011	114095	City Council	Adopted		Action details	Meeting details	Not available

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

CITY OF CHICAGO

RICHARD M. DALEY

MAYOR

March 9, 201

TO THE HONORABLE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I transmit herewith a resolution urging the General Assembly to reject legislation authorizing the carrying of concealed firearms.

Your favorable consideration of this resolution will be appreciated.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, There are currently several bills pending in the Illinois General Assembly that would authorize persons to carry concealed firearms if they have been issued a permit; and

WHEREAS, Specifically, four identical bills, Senate Bill 82 and House Bills 112, 148 and 1403, would allow persons over the age of 21 to apply to the county sheriff or to the Department of State Police for a permit to carry a handgun concealed on the person or in a vehicle; and

WHEREAS, Firearm-related injuries and deaths are the cause of significant social and economic costs to the Gity of Chicago and its communities, and have a severe impact on our criminal justice and health care systems; and

WHEREAS, The overwhelming majority of homicides in the City of Chicago are committed with a firearm, and on an annual basis there are typically approximately 2,000 aggravated battery offenses involving a firearm within the City of Chicago; and

WHEREAS, The pending legislation would preempt home rule powers and would prohibit any local regulation of permittees, except that the legislation would allow a municipality to pass an ordinance prohibiting carrying a concealed firearm in portions of a building owned, leased or controlled by that municipality, so long as the ordinance does not impose any criminal penalties for violating the prohibition; and

WHEREAS, The legislation also would purport to give similar powers to the Illinois General Assembly to pass a statute prohibiting concealed firearms on property owned leased or controlled by the State, although it is unclear why the General Assembly would need authority in the legislation to pass a statute; and ₍

WHEREAS, In an apparent concession to lobbyists representing the National Rifle Association, the legislation would prohibit persons from carrying concealed firearms into meetings of the General Assembly and other public bodies, unless the person is a registered lobbyist or a member of the public body itself; and

WHEREAS, In another apparent concession to the National Rifle Association, the legislation would provide that a National Rifle Association Personal Protection Instructor or a National Rifle Association Pistol Marksmanship Instructor is automatically certified to conduct the training courses required by the legislation, for which $100 of a $125 per-student course fee would be retained by the instructor; and

WHEREAS, Claims that legalizing the concealed carrying of firearms would improve public safety are dubious at best, which helps to explain why concealed carry in Illinois has been opposed by such organizations as the American Academy of Pediatrics-Illinois, the Illinois League of Women Voters, Voices for Illinois Children, and many others, as well as former Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; and

WHEREAS, According to the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a Chicago-based advocacy group, from May 2007 through February 2010, at least 139 people, including nine police officers, were killed nationwide by concealed handgun permit holders; and

WHEREAS, Although some gun rights advocates have cited studies that supposedly support the claim that legalized concealed carry reduces violent crime, academic research conducted by respected researchers, including the University of Chicago and John Hopkins University, and studies published by the Stanford Law Review and the Journal of Trauma, have criticized the methodology and faulty conclusions of studies cited by gun rights advocates, and have concluded that there is no evidence that concealed carry reduces violent crime and in many cases may increase such crime; and

WHEREAS, The ability to carry concealed firearms in public will expose Chicago taxpayers to greater expenses associated with the increased number of firearms-related incidents that can be expected to occur; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this ninth day of March, 2011, do hereby urge the Illinois General Assembly to reject any legislation that would allow members of the public to carry concealed firearms on their person or in their vehicles; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we encourage the Governor ofthe State of Illinois to veto any such legislation if it should pass the General Assembly; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor of the State of Illinois, the President of the Illinois Senate, the Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate, the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and the Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives.