February 1, 2000

BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER

Prospective gun owners would be required to undergo four hours of training and pay twice as much for a firearms owners identification card, under new gun laws proposed Monday by Illinois Senate Democrats.

Emboldened by fallout over Benjamin Smith’s rampage, the Democrats also propose a civil liability for injuries caused by guns sold illegally and stiffer penalties for using a gun within 500 feet of a place of worship.

And handgun purchases would be limited to one a month, reviving a crackdown Mayor Daley tried in vain to get legislators to pass.

Senate Democrats also want would-be owners to present a photo ID. The safety programs and added costs would be financed by doubling the FOID fee–from $5 to $10.

“This is walking along the edge of the poll tax and the Jim Crow era,” said Richard Pearson, president of the Illinois State Rifle Association.

“When you start taxing a right or making some sort of monetary requirement to be able to exercise that right, it’s like poll taxes. It attacks the individual gun owner–not the criminal.”

Todd Vandermyde, Illinois legislation liaison for the National Rifle Association called the training provision “a de-facto gun ban. This state doesn’t have the facility to train 200,000 gun owners every year. It’s not going to happen. If you can’t get the training, you can’t own a gun.”

State Sen. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago) countered that “four lousy hours” of training should be “a slam dunk” in a state that requires students to take driver’s ed.

Although Senate Republicans were “backed into a corner by their leader,” Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale), during the Safe Neighborhoods standoff, the tide on gun control may be turning, said state Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago).

Philip is ” starting to see, within his own caucus, a change in attitude,” Cullerton said. “There’s nothing like doing a poll of your own Senate district and seeing that 7-to-1, 8-to-1 people are in favor of certain gun control legislation.”