RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Our Nation's gun laws have proven to be ineffective and broken, allowing those who have no business owning a gun to obtain ever more powerful weapons; and
WHEREAS, The ineffectiveness of these laws is borne out all too often by tragedies such as the recent massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; the 2017 mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada; and the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting; and
WHEREAS, Despite a well-documented history of mental illness and threats to attack the school, the gunman in the Parkland shooting was still able to legally purchase the AR-15-style assault rifle he used in the attack; and
WHEREAS, Chicago is also heartbreakingly familiar with the toll that gun violence takes on our families, friends, and neighbors all too frequently here in our own City; and
WHEREAS, In the wake of the Parkland, Florida mass shooting, students throughout the Country, including students in the Chicago area, have become vocal and active in efforts to stop gun violence; and
WHEREAS, Nationwide there is a groundswell of support for stricter gun controls and protests against laws that allow someone with a documented history of mental illness and threatening behavior to purchase such deadly weapons; and
WHEREAS, In Springfield "there are currently pending several common-sense measures meant to address the scourge of gun violence that we continue to experience; and
WHEREAS, Illinois House Bill 1465 would make it a crime to sell assault weapons to persons under 21 years of age, or sell firearms to persons with a history of mental illness; and
WHEREAS, Illinois House Bill 1467 would make it a crime to manufacture, purchase, possess, or sell bump stocks and trigger cranks, devices that can increase the rate of fire for weapons that are already deadly; and
WHEREAS, Illinois House Bill 1468 would make it a crime to allow a purchaser to take possession of an assault weapon until at least 72 hours after an application for its purchase is made; and
WHEREAS, Illinois House Bill 1469, the Commander Paul Bauer Act, would make it a crime to deliver, sell, purchase, or possess large capacity ammunition feeding devices or body armor, except in limited cases for law enforcement and our military; and
WHEREAS, Illinois House Bill 1657 would require gun dealers to be licensed by the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Illinois Senate Bill 1291, the Lethal Violence Order of Protection Act, would allow family members or law enforcement to ask a court to temporarily take weapons away from someone if that person is deemed a danger to themselves or others; and
WHEREAS, The Members of this Chamber agree that such reforms to gun laws are urgently needed, and not one more life should be lost to such senseless violence; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this twenty-eighth day of February, 2018, do hereby call upon Governor Bruce Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly to resist the influence and pressure from the gun industry and its political action committees, and enact these urgently needed, common-sense gun law reforms in order to protect lives throughout the State of Illinois; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council Committee on Public Safety shall convene a hearing to discuss this issue of crucial importance to our City and these important legislative proposals; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable 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.