Dear Friends,
Illegal gun trafficking is allowing gangs and violence to flourish around Illinois - in Chicago, Waukegan, Metro East, Quad Cities, Champaign, Peoria, Oak Park, Cicero, Rockford and hundreds of communities in between. With approximately 115,000 gang members in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, Chicago has the highest concentration of gang members in the nation terrorizing our families. According to Reuters, gangs like the Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples and the Latin Kings are responsible for nearly 80% of the city’s homicides. Last summer alone, gang violence killed 500 men, women and children in Chicago.
We must put a stop to this cycle of violence. According to the Chicago Crime Commission, Chicago Police recover an average of 13,000 illegal weapons each year. Yesterday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and I introduced a bipartisan anti-gun trafficking bill to ensure that law enforcement has the tools it needs to crack down on illegal weapons trafficking.
Our bill, the Gillibrand-Kirk Gun Trafficking Prevention Act of 2013, will for the first time make gun trafficking a federal crime. Currently, no federal law exists that defines gun trafficking as a crime. The bill will protect the constitutional rights of responsible, law-abiding gun owners while giving law enforcement the tools they need to keep our families safe.
I encourage you to watch the video above to learn more about weapons trafficking and our new bill. Please visit my website to read details about the legislation.
Sincerely,
Mark Kirk
U.S. Senator