ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6 (a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, after examining data from death certificates, police reports, and hospital emergency reports from 2002 to 2014, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that at least nineteen (19) children are killed or injured by guns every day in the United States and concluded that gunshot wounds are third leading cause of death for children ages one (1) to seventeen (17) behind unintentional injuries, such as motor vehicle crashes or drowning, and cancer; and
WHEREAS, the CDC found that boys are especially vulnerable to gun violence, accounting for eighty-two percent (82%) of all child firearm deaths and eighty-four percent (84%) of all nonfatal gun injuries; and
WHEREAS, after studying gun violence in Chicago, the researchers argue that gun violence is not just a law-enforcement problem but a public health crisis that requires understanding the problem and developing solutions; and
WHEREAS, the emergency room at the Stroger Hospital has seen a rise in children injured by gun violence and the Journal of Pediatrics recommended doctors to talk to parents about firearm safety since gun violence prevention starts at the individual, family, and community level; and
WHEREAS, in Chicago, there were more than 250 people shot in the month of June and Fourth of July weekend brought that figure to an additional sixty (60) people shot, including eight homicides; and
WHEREAS, so far in 2017, more than 2,112 people have been shot and of those victims, 291 have died; and
WHEREAS, on June 2, 2017, as police officers responded to shots being fired at the 5800 block of South Wa...
Click here for full text