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"Most guns used in crimes come from out
of state," Gov. Blagojevich said. "The more we can stop the flow of
illegal guns into Illinois, the less gun crime and gun violence
we'll see. That's why we're creating an elite gun crimes unit to
reduce the flow of crime guns into the hands of criminals. We're
going to track illegal guns to their sources and crack down on the
sale and distribution of illegal guns."
More crime guns flow into Illinois
from Indiana and Mississippi than from any other state. According to
recent data, 777 crime guns from Indiana and 532 crime guns from
Mississippi were located in Illinois. Crime guns from these two
states alone nearly equal the total number of crime guns from the
next 10 states combined.
Nationwide, close to 90 percent of
guns used in crimes are trafficked. In Chicago, for the past two
years more than 75 percent of murders involved guns.
Trafficking is when a gun is passed
from a legal buyer or seller to a person or group who are not
permitted to have a weapon. Trafficking also takes place when a gun
is stolen, sold by a corrupt dealer to a criminal, sold to a legal
buyer who gives it to a criminal or inadvertently sold to a
criminal. In Illinois, almost half of traced gun crimes were
trafficked from another state.
"Illinois is flooded with a deadly
tide of crime guns that come from states that have very lax gun
laws," said Jim Kessler, policy and research director for Americans
for Gun Safety. "This initiative will have a greater impact on
reducing Illinois crime than any other gun safety measure currently
being proposed."
The gun-tracing unit will work with
authorities in Indiana and Mississippi, coordinating information on
purchases, allowing law enforcement to take action. The unit will
also analyze federal data to detect trends and patterns and prevent
criminal activity.
The unit will be led by a master
sergeant and will include five new intelligence analysts to study
crime gun data and help lead agents to gun traffickers. The state
troopers assigned to this unit will be trained by the Federal Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
[to top of second column in this article]
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 The governor also sent a clear
message to those who want to make guns more easily accessible.
"Bills that would pre-empt the home rule and take away the power of
cities to enact gun control laws, or that would make Illinois a
conceal-and-carry state, or that would destroy records that will
make it harder for law enforcement to trace gun crimes, are bills
that would weaken our gun laws and increase crime," he said. "If any
of these bills reach my desk, let me say it right now: They are dead
on arrival."
Joining the governor at the press
conference at Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center in
Chicago were Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent; Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics Director George Phillips; Andrew L. Traver,
special agent in charge of the Chicago Division of the ATF;
leadership of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police;
legislators; and leaders from state and national gun control
advocacy groups, including Americans for Gun Safety, the Chicago
chapter of the national Brady Campaign and the Northern Suburban
chapter of the Million Mom March.
The
governor's office provided the following list of those attending:
- Gov. Blagojevich
- Illinois State Police Director
Larry Trent
- Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics
Director George Phillips
- State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg
- State Rep. Harry Osterman
- State Rep. Deborah Graham
- State Rep. Elaine Nekritz
- State Rep. Marlow Colvin
- Tom Vanden Berk, national
Brady Campaign board
member and founder of the local chapter, Chicago Survivors
- Keith Tunney, Joliet Police
Department commander and Fraternal Order of Police second vice
president
- Mark Donahue, Chicago Fraternal
Order of Police president
- Chief Joe Pena from the East
Dundee Police Department, first vice president of the Illinois
Association of Chiefs of Police
- Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, state
president of Million Mom
March, from the Northern Suburban chapter
- Andrew Traver, ATF special agent
in charge of the Chicago Division
- Tom Ahern, ATF special agent
- Jim Kessler, policy director of
Americans for Gun Safety
[News release from the governor's office]
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