Durbin Calls For Crackdown On Gun Traffickers
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After a violent weekend in Chicago, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is introducing a new bill that would put gun traffickers in the cross-hairs.
The bill, called the Crime Gun Tracing Act, would encourage police to report guns used in violent crimes to a national database so they can be traced.
Durbin said the database would be "one of the most powerful and basic crime fighting tools available" because it traces crime guns from their manufacturer to their first retail purchaser.
As a result, the data would will help expose gun trafficking networks.
The senator says fewer than half of Illinois law enforcement agencies report firearms to the database.
Over the weekend, gun violence erupted on the streets of Chicago again.
Seven men were killed and at least 26 others injured since Friday.
Among the injured was a 14-year-old boy, who was shot in the torso as he walked down the street in the Lawndale neighborhood around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday
Among the seven dead included a man killed late Saturday night in the CHA's Altgeld Gardens development.
Witnesses say he was with a group outside a birthday party when a fight broke out and someone fired shots.
At a news conference on Sunday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said: "The weak link in our strategy is making sure we get a three-year minimum for a gun crime. Individuals are out on the street, shooting or being victim of gun crime, who should have been behind bars."
Durbin's bill is a big incentive for police agencies because the ones who follow through with the reporting requirements will get first crack on certain federal policing grants.
