At its annual conference in Chicago held in late October, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) called for background checks for all gun purchases in the U.S., according to a Reuters news report.
The proliferation of firearms is one of the factors behind a rise in homicide rates in many U.S. cities this year, according to senior law enforcement officials at the conference in Chicago.
Their statement runs counter to recent FBI statistics that show crime has gone down as the numbers of concealed carry license holders has grown. Click here to read about the results of the 2014 FBI Uniform Crime Report.
During the press conference, the chiefs’ representatives cited a statistic that up to 40 percent of firearms sales involve private parties or gun shows and do not require checks. It’s closer to 10 percent, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center researcher John Lott. Click here to see why.
“This is a no-brainer, this is the simplest thing in the world,” Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said to Reuters. “It troubles me all the time.”
“We took on the tobacco industry years ago,” McCarthy said to Reuters. “We’re not going to give up, it’s the most obvious thing in the world what we have to do in this country. I have more faith in America.”
So that’s how it is? Where do you stand?
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