Police chiefs: Universal background checks for gun purchases

Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Martin O’Malley in calling for an expansion of background checks to all gun sales.

Obama also plans to raise the issue of gun control, a message that resonates in Chicago, where gun violence has run rampant. “They may. But there’s never been a recognition or an attempt to reverse that, the way we are, in policing in this country today”, McCarthy said.

In Chicago, Obama and his Justice Department plan to release a guidebook for law enforcement officers based on recommendations from the administration’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. This madness can not continue.

Backing the effort is an alliance of organizations representing police chiefs and executives, such as the Major Cities Chiefs Association and groups representing women, Hispanic and African American law enforcement executives and police chiefs, as well as campus law enforcement administrators. When a reporter talked about in that Chicago already has strict gun control laws, Earnest agreed, “It does”.

Current rules on background checks apply to licensed dealers, but up to 40 % of firearms sales involve private parties or gun shows and do not require checks, the chiefs said. “Last year, federal authorities counted more than 2,500 instances when someone who should have been prevented from purchasing a weapon was able to obtain one because three days had passed without the check being completed”.

He’ll address the world’s largest gathering of police chiefs meeting at McCormick Place.

The conference this week in Chicago is being attended by 14,000 law enforcement leaders and President Obama is scheduled to address the audience Tuesday afternoon, which, according to IACP President, Richard M. Beary, will be the first time in over 20 years that a sitting president has done so.