President Barack Obama’s move to tighten controls on guns sold over the Internet and at gun shows is sparking conversations all over the Fox Valley.
Adriana Cervantes of Aurora supports Obama’s decision. When her son, Daniel Sanchez, was killed during an armed robbery in Aurora last year, he was allegedly shot by a 19-year-old with a handgun, police said. Because of his age, it was a weapon the teen wasn’t legally allowed to possess.
Cervantes said that without that weapon, in those hands, on that day, her 19-year-old son would still be alive.
“In the old days, people beat people up when they robbed them. They didn’t die,” Cervantes said. “You want to take his money? Fine. You want to beat him up? Fine. At least he’d still be here. But it was that easy for them to get a gun? How was it that easy? The laws have to be tighter.”
Cervantes said the more the government can do to keep guns out of the hands of people they don’t belong in, the better.
“Nobody has the right to take anybody’s life, and that’s what’s going on with this loose gun situation,” she said. “(The government) is not trying to take anyone’s rights away, they’re just trying to make it harder for those who abuse their right.”
According to Aurora Police Department Cmdr. Paul Nelson, “anything that keeps guns out of the hands of violent street gang members is a great thing.”
But, in his opinion, an executive order from the president isn’t going help do that.
“We need to target very harshly people who criminally misuse weapons,” Nelson said.
“When you see the level of violence that exists, the lives that are destroyed and impaired by violence, you want to seek solutions to it,” he said, but he doesn’t think the government is going about things quite the right way.
He said he knows how dangerous the misuse of a weapon can be in the hands of criminals, juveniles and the mentally unstable.
“I don’t think you’ll find anyone on the pro-gun lobby who will argue with that,” he said. “But are we doing anything effective in the Legislature — and now on the executive level – to keep guns out of the hands of those three people?”
In his orders, Obama has promised to push to remove legal barriers that prevent the reporting of relevant mental health information to the background check system. Despite this fact, Nelson remains a skeptic about what information will actually get shared.
“I’m still skeptical about (the government’s) ability to access mental health records,” he said. “When you analyze the mass shootings we’ve had in this country, the vast majority were committed by people with psychiatric issues who (would have or did pass) a background check. Many of these people weren’t flagged.”
And then, there are those who avoid background checks completely and get weapons, and these are the people we should really be worrying about, he said.
Greg Tropino, president at East Dundee’s GAT Guns, said he doesn’t believe Obama’s recent executive order on gun show sales will change much for his business.
What he has seen is an increase in gun sales — a reaction from gun enthusiasts when new regulations are announced.
“Is it affecting our business? The media saying ‘gun control’ scares a lot of people,” he said.
“Business is up because people are afraid of what big government is going to do,” Tropino said.
GAT Guns does not sell or show at gun shows, Tropino noted. His business must keep records forever on gun sales — and a buyer at a gun show might not know where that gun came from.
“I don’t display at gun shows, I don’t go to gun shows. They are great for hobbyists, or for information, but would I buy a gun there? You don’t know where it came from if you don’t buy from a dealer,” he said.
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Right now, he added, it is already illegal to sell guns over the Internet.
“You cannot buy a gun across the Internet, it is felony. You can’t advertise … if you transport across state lines … there are laws in the books,” he said.
If an uncle in one state wants to sell a gun to a nephew in another state, the transaction needs to be done through licensed dealers in both states, Tropino said.
If those laws are not being followed, those involved need to be prosecuted, he said.
“There are laws on the books already. Just prosecute,” he said.
However, according to the ATF website, the Internet can be used to sell guns when the sale is from individual to individual. Neither, according to the website, is there a “specific threshold (for the) number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement.”
As the debate goes on, Cervantes still has questions concerning her son’s death.
“I haven’t been told where (the gun killed her son) came from,” Cervantez said. “But how did (a teenager) get a 25mm handgun?”
Free-lance writer Janelle Walker contributed to this story