The debate over the best way to regulate handguns and the role of gun control in combating violence will probably only intensify now that Chicago has a new strict gun law on the books.
But it won’t happen in the Chicago City Council, which unanimously passed the law at the urging of Mayor Richard M. Daley just one day after it was completed and less than a day after most aldermen were offered the chance to look it over.
“Yeah, it was rushed through, but that’s nothing new,” one alderman told me. But he wasn’t particularly concerned. “The details don’t really matter,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like we’re selling off the parking meters this time.”
Still, the council’s 45-0 vote commits city resources to enforcing a new set of regulations on gun ownership, sales, training, and registration. Daley said it was critical to put the new law in place in the wake of the Supreme Court decision against Chicago’s handgun ban. “Either we enact new and reasonable handgun laws in Chicago to protect our residents—as the Council has done—or we do nothing and risk greater gun violence in our streets and in our homes.”