In Illinois, nail technicians, canine handlers and even hair braiders need to be licensed, but not gun dealers. This does not make sense.
The state’s loose oversight of gun dealers is helping guns to fall into the wrong hands. From 2009 to 2013, more than 2,600 guns recovered from crime scenes in Chicago were traced back to just three Illinois firearms business.
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These numbers suggest that such gun dealers are playing fast and loose: Are they rigorously conducting background checks? Do they sell firearms to obvious straw purchasers?
Illinois needs gun dealer licensing so there’s a pathway for stricter scrutiny of bad apple gun dealers and the ability to mete out consequences if they fall short.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and members of the General Assembly should support a gun dealer licensing bill now under consideration in Springfield, which would go a long way in making our communities safer.
Leslie Orozco, Worth
Foregoing closure of Wrigley streets is irresponsible
Those opposed to closing Clark and Addison on game days at Wrigley Field have a lot in common with those that made the decision not to have an adequate number of lifeboats on the RMS Titanic before its maiden voyage in 1912. Their irresponsibility cost the lives of hundreds of people, and represents the same kind of thinking that those who oppose the closure of streets around Wrigley Field seem to have.
Larry Vigon, Jefferson Park
