Although critics of the Brady bill say the federal legislation will not keep criminals from getting guns, proponents point to Illinois’ law as a model for making it more difficult.
It is impossible to precisely measure the impact of Illinois’ law on violent crime, but one figure stands out: Since 1992, the law has prevented at least 5,000 people from legally buying a gun because of their criminal record or mental illness.
That’s because Illinois already has a Brady bill of its own-a tougher version of the one Congress has haggled over for years. The Illinois law mandates background checks and requires that gun owners have identification cards. The Brady bill would require a national five-day waiting period before a prospective buyer can receive a handgun.
The measure would have little, if any, direct effect on Illinois.
“The Brady bill’s not going to make any difference in Illinois because the law’s already strong,” said James Valentino Jr., president of the Illinois State Rifle Association. “The system we have in Illinois is effective.”
The Brady bill is as close to becoming law as it has ever been, with the support of the president and both houses. The bill came out of committee late Monday, but Senate Republicans, unhappy with changes, have threatened another filibuster. The Senate may be called back next week to iron things out.
“Basically, it takes a small bite out of the few purchasers going out of state to buy guns where there are not background checks and then bringing them back to Illinois,” said Philip Andrew, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.
The system in Illinois is two-tiered. Unlike the Brady bill, it requires an identification card and a background check. The grounds for denying issuance of a card include felony convictions and history of mental illness, drug addiction or mental retardation. Further, the Illinois law applies to almost all guns, including shotguns and some pellet guns. The Brady bill applies only to handguns.
State laws with longer waiting periods or instant checks-such as Illinois has-supersede the Brady bill.
In Illinois, people with valid firearm owner’s identification cards are subjected to the instant checks when they try to buy a gun. The gunshop calls a 900 number for the Illinois State Police to check the prospective buyer’s background. After that, the buyer still faces a 72-hour “cooling off” period before delivery.
The wait is longer for those who do not have the identification card, which some 1.1 million people carry, said Illinois State Police spokesman John Pastuovic. Issuance of the card takes up to 30 days and has been required to own or buy a gun or ammunition in Illinois for 25 years.
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The state implemented the telephone instant check on Jan. 1, 1992. Since then, gun shops have placed 319,365 calls, Pastuovic said. State police denied 2,062 the right to buy a gun the day of the call, he said.
Over the last 23 months, 714 prospective gun-buyers have been arrested when the telephone check disclosed that they were wanted on criminal warrants, Pastuovic said.
“What we do is contact the local police and make them aware that there is a wanted individual in that store trying to purchase a gun,” he said. “It is a very effective program.”
Andrew Nelson, who works in a North Shore gun shop, said most of the denials he receives from the state police are from expired identification cards, which are valid for five years. But he said he recalls the state police once turning away a potential buyer because of his immigration status and another because he had been indicted for insurance fraud.
One potential buyer, Nelson said, ended up having to pay an outstanding traffic ticket. Even though he was permitted to buy the gun because the traffic offense was not a felony, the state police tipped off the local police, Nelson said. Local police went to the gun store, got his address and phone number and went to his house, where they arrested him for not showing up in Traffic Court, Nelson said.
Nelson, who also is a shooting instructor certified by the National Rifle Association, said he supports Illinois’ law, as well as the Brady bill.
“I think there should be checks throughout the country,” he said. “Criminals can get guns on the black market, but why enable them to buy guns through the legal channel? Why make it easy for them?”
That sentiment alludes to a common cry of the gun control opponents, who have contended the Brady bill only penalizes law-abiding citizens.
“The real problem is not the law-abiding citizen, and it’s not the gunshop,” Valentino said. “It’s the illegal sale, the underworld sale of the firearm.”
But others are quick to point out that virtually all guns are legal when they enter the stream of commerce.
“They don’t just fall from the sky,” Dr. Katherine Christoffel, of Children’s Memorial Hospital, who is involved with the gun control movement.
Even the opponents’ sentiments may be changing. Valentino said the Illinois State Rifle Association and the national organization pushed for the instant telephone checks. He called the Brady bill a “nice compromise,” because it could require instant checks four or five years after it is passed.
“They’re postponing for four years what could be done today,” Valentino said. “I don’t know why it will take four years, when Illinois had it in effect after a few months and two years later it’s working like a charm.”
Regardless of the bill’s shortcomings, supporters characterize it as a significant step in a direction rarely taken.
“I think we’ve broken new ground here. But, looking at the violence, it still took Congress seven years to pass what most people think is a simple bill,” said Gwen Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc.