Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel request six months to devise rules on gun sales in city
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has asked for six months to come up with rules for the city’s gun stores.
A federal court struck down Chicago’s ban on gun stores, when a judge ruled it unconstitutional.
The mayor didn’t offer specifics on how his administration will try to retool the city’s gun ordinances to meet the court standard. But he said he isn’t appealing the ruling because the city keeps losing the court cases and he doesn’t like litigation for litigation’s sake.
“Though I fully disagree, the city has little option but to follow the ruling of the court. I’ve instructed the Law Department to work with public safety experts and community leaders to create a comprehensive set of restrictions on the sale of firearms to ensure that illegal guns don’t find their way into the hands of criminals or straw purchasers,” Emanuel said.
Emanuel was forced to readjust his strategy after U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang found that the city failed to convince him that banning gun sales was necessary to reduce violence.
Chicago once had one of the strongest handgun crackdowns in the country. Overturning the ban on retail gun stores and private gun sales cleared the path for gun advocates to dismantle the city’s strict firearm laws.
Should the sale of guns be banned in Chicago?
Are handguns obtained legally really the issue?
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