Aldermen To Push For National Assault Weapons Ban
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The nightclub massacre in Orlando and the sniper murders of five police officers in Dallas have renewed the call to get assault weapons off the streets, and Chicago aldermen plan to discuss what more can be done to achieve that goal.
At a public hearing on Monday, the Public Safety Committee will discuss steps the city and state can take to address gang violence and gun trafficking.
Chicago already has a ban on assault weapons, but some aldermen have said it's time to push for a state and national ban, in the wake of Thursday's sniper attack in Dallas and the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
Aldermen hope once the issue is addressed at the state level, it will gain momentum, and garner support from Congress.
At Monday's hearing, victims of gang violence and experts in the field of gun regulation will testify about potential laws to increase gun control.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) called for the hearing last month, after witnessing a shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood that left a home riddled with 40 bullets. A few blocks away from there, a 17-year-old was killed on a Sunday afternoon outside a church and school, and police said the gunman used an assault rifle.
"That church is packed to the gills when people come out of mass, and to have a gang member with a semi-automatic rifle unloading on a target; bullets don't always hit their targets. He could've hit hundreds of innocent bystanders. We have to get these weapons off the block," Lopez said.
Even with a citywide assault weapon ban, there is no longer a ban on handguns in Chicago, after the U.S. Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in 2010.
As of the end of June, there have been more than 1,700 shooting victims this year in Chicago, 250 of whom were killed.
