Emanuel's gun shop proposal would limit locations, require record of buyers

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A proposed ordinance that may soon go before City Council would put tough restrictions on opening gun stores in Chicago.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the city came up with this measure to get around a federal court ruling that found it is unconstitutional to ban gun stores altogether in Chicago.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose not to fight the decision, and the court gave the city six months to approve store restrictions short of a ban. The deadline is July 14.

Emanuel's proposal on regulating city gun shops would limit gun sales to only pockets of the North, West and South sides - making it illegal to sell guns in 99.5 percent of the city. Stores could not be within 500 feet of a school or park.

Stores that are permitted to sell firearms would have to keep detailed logs with the names of those who are buying guns, buyers could purchase only one handgun per month, transactions would be videotaped.

"There is no question it will be the smartest, toughest regulation on gun stores in the country," said Janey Rountree, the mayor's deputy chief of staff for public safety. "It's designed to prevent gun trafficking and illegal sales in these stores."

Several members of the Chicago City Council have declined to give feedback on the mayor's proposal because, as Alderman Ed Burke put it, "I'd rather read it first."

The prospect of further legal action has some aldermen divided.

"I just can't go back to my residents and say that we spent $20 million defending an ordinance to go down in flames and the violence still doesn't stop," Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. (21st) said.

"I think we have more lawyers than people can challenge us on - and they get paid eight hours a day, seven days a week," Alderman Walter Burnett (27th) said.

According to a new city report on Chicago's gun violence problem, which included many of the proposed store regulations in the recommendation, the rate of murders involving guns in Chicago is double that in Los Angeles and more than three times that in New York City.

The mayor's office and the police department created the report, which compared murder rates in the three cities from 2011, with the help of University of Chicago Crime Lab researchers.

"The three cities have relatively similar rates of non-gun homicides," the report said. "The difference, however, is Chicago's large gun market which fuels the murder rate."

The rate of murders involving guns was 13.4 per 100,000 people in Chicago, 5.9 in Los Angeles and 3.8 in New York.

In many cases, these are guns that were purchased legally, but then transferred illegally to someone who then used it to commit a crime.

Under the proposed ordinance, store owners would have to conduct quarterly audits of their gun sales and allow police to inspect their records. They also would have to get the police to approve a security plan outlining exterior lighting, surveillance cameras and alarm systems, as well as storage of guns and ammunition, before they could open their doors. Employees would have to undergo fingerprinting, background checks and training on identifying potential gun traffickers.

Rountree said similar safety measures were imposed on gun stores in New York City in a settlement of a 2006 lawsuit the city brought against 20 firearms dealers.

Those stores agreed to videotape the "point of sale" when a customer bought a gun, Rountree said. Their employees also received training from a retired federal agent on identifying potential "straw purchasers," people who can legally buy guns but then supply criminals with them.

The result was an 85 percent drop in the number of guns sold that were subsequently used in crimes.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.