WHEREAS, Every day, Chicago, like countless other communities, confronts the relentless scourge of firearm violence, which devastates families and terrorizes parts of our city; and
WHEREAS, Our Nation remains in shock following a horrific series of mass shootings over the past few years, culminating in the unspeakable tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012; and
WHEREAS, The level of firearm violence in the United States, which, according lo the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, resulted in 31,672 deaths in 2011 alone, is unmatched in any other developed country in the world; and
WHEREAS, Public interest groups like the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence have concluded that our Nation's dubious distinction as the developed world's leader in firearm violence is largely attributable to the disproportionate cultural and political influence wielded by the National Rifle Association, which is committed to preventing essentially all forms of firearm regulation; and
WHEREAS, In its study Blood Money: How the Gun Industry Bankrolls the NRA, the Violence Policy Center concluded that, between 2005 and 2011, contributions to the National Rifle Association from its "corporate partners" in the firearms industry totaled between $14.7 million and $38.9 million; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago, as a large municipality with a well-documented history of firearm violence, has a particularly strong interest in exploring all aspects of this issue as a means of strengthening the ongoing effort to develop effective strategies to make our community a safer place to live; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this seventeenth day of January, 2013, do hereby direct the City Council Committee on Workforce Development and Audit to hold one or more informational hearings for the purpose of casting light on and evaluating the propriety ofthe relationship between the National Rifle Association and the firearms industry, and to call upon the appropriate persons to testify at such hearings; and
William D. Burns Aid/ rman,4lh Ward
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we urge other states and municipalities to consider taking similar action in order to make plain that leaders at all levels of government are aware of and fully accept their responsibility to enlist in the battle against firearm violence.
