Be Smart: Creating Legislation to Curb Gun Violence

                                                
Uni High, in collaboration with WILL, present the following special podcast series, “Changing the Narrative: Preventing Gun Violence in Champaign-Urbana.”

Written by Anya Kaplan-Hartnett. 

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Narrator: Gun violence is a pervasive issue for our community. According to the News Gazette, the daily newspaper of record in Champaign, Illinois, 35 people in Champaign-Urbana have died due to gun-related incidents between 2014 and 2019 alone, which demonstrates a marked increase in the frequency and severity of these violent events. However, our community has responded with determination and compassion in order to work towards a more peaceful future. This podcast delves into the essential anti-violence work being done in Champaign-Urbana. We’ve interviewed local activists, organizers, politicians, and entrepreneurs to learn more about counteracting gun violence. This is “Be Smart: Creating Legislation to Curb Gun Violence,” the second in our series, “Changing the Narrative, Preventing Gun Violence on Champaign-Urbana. From Uni High, I’m Benjamin Chang, a current sophomore and a member of the Class of 2023.

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Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Most Americans are familiar with the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” However, determining how this federal amendment affects gun ownership on a local level can be complex. James Seikel, the manager of Urbana’s High Caliber Training Center and Shooting Range, explains the situation.

James Seikel:

The problem is, I don’t know how many jurisdictions there are for firearms. I know there is one federal, I know there are fifty different ones for each state, and then in any state, like I talked about Cook County before, there could be other jurisdictions that regulate firearms. It is confusing and makes it very hard for people to understand what they’re doing. Anyone who moves from one state to another now has to learn a completely new system.

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Generally, gun legislation put in place at the state level takes precedence in Champaign-Urbana. Illinois gun laws are among the strictest in the nation, and the cornerstone of the state’s policy is the Firearm Owner’s Identification card, or FOID card. Anyone who wants to buy, sell, or keep a firearm in Illinois must have a valid FOID card. However, there are ways to circumvent this requirement. We spoke with Jen Straub, a local activist who has held leadership positions for the local Champaign-Urbana chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization advocating for stronger gun laws. 

Jenn Straub: 

For example, Aurora Shooting that happened in February of this year happened with someone who had gotten a FOID card and had gotten that card after a 1995 aggravated assault conviction happened in Mississippi that should have caused him to fail that background check. It didn’t, but later when he applied for a concealed carry license he had to submit fingerprints and then that showed up. When that showed up, they revoked his FOID card and sent him that notice, but they never followed up on it. He had his guns and we know that he used them to kill people. There can be greater oversight and the FOID card can become an even stronger tool that we use to make sure that the gun owners in our state are responsible gun owners.

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Partially in response to the devastating Aurora shooting in 2019, Democratic state representatives from the Chicago area proposed new legislation. 

Jenn Straub: 

There is actually legislation right now called “Fix the FOID”. The FOID card is a great step in the right direction. It does provide a level of accountability that most states don’t have. The “Fix the FOID” legislation is currently introduced would require a point-of-sale background check for all gun sales including those by an unlicensed seller. Private sales could no longer happen in a home. They would have to happen at a licensed gun dealer’s establishment so that a point-of-sale background check could happen. That makes sense to most Americans. Background checks should happen for all guns because all guns have the same potential to cause problems. It would require that FOID applicants apply for their FOID card in person instead of online. It would require that they submit fingerprints as part of their application. It would require that law enforcement would remove guns from folks whose FOID card were revoked. Also, it would reduce the FOID card duration from 10 years to 5 years and strengthen the concealed carry license process. 

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Since we spoke with Jen Straub, the “Fix the FOID” Act passed the Illinois House of Representatives but failed to come to a vote before the conclusion of the 2019 state senate session. A revised version of this legislation may come to a vote in the future, renamed as the Block Illegal Ownership Bill. 

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Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Another law specific to Illinois is the mandatory 72-hour waiting period, which means that anyone who purchases a gun must wait three days before taking the weapon home. This law is meant to reduce the likelihood of spontaneous violence against others or yourself, though many gun owners feel that these regulations are frustrating for logistical reasons. Robert Kouzmanoff served as a US marine and now lives in Champaign County. He’s a proud gun owner, and he shared a personal example to explain his opposition to this policy.

Robert Kouzmanoff: 

Right so I would say to take out the waiting period altogether. And not just because I believe it’s an infringement on the second amendment. My sister was a victim of domestic violence, her boyfriend forced his way into her home, her apartment, and in doing so, struck her with the door that he was forcing open. Made a lot of threats, tried to exercise some social violence over her. Fortunately, it ended there and with the threat of calling the police he left. She took out a restraining order. A restraining order is just a piece of paper. So she immediately calls me up and asks what do I need to do to get a Illinois FOID card which is requirement to buy ammunition or a firearm in Illinois, and how quickly can I get a gun. I told her I can’t sell you a gun even as a family member without adhering to that 3-day waiting period. And I can’t do it if you don’t have a FOID card. 

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

In addition to FOID card requirements and waiting periods, Illinois enforces rigorous firearm design safety standards, also known as melting point laws. These laws prohibit gun dealers from selling any firearm made with zinc alloys or other lower-quality metals, which tend to melt at about 800 degrees. Melting point laws are meant to ensure that legal firearms are high quality, but James Seikel worries that these laws are no longer effective. 

James Seikel:

Melting point laws are functionally there to make it so it’s hard to buy a cheap gun. Guns now are all relatively inexpensive, as far as the easiest one on the bottom of the market, such is capitalism. Melting point laws make no sense anymore. And the purpose behind those is somebody could use a firearm, take that firearm and melt it down, so that it was no longer a firearm. And hide the evidence. One, I don’t know that many criminals that are really that smart anymore. Two, you can do that with pretty much anything. Most firearms now are made of polymers, as much as they are made out of steel, so that particular law is extremely outdated. 

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

In fact, melting point laws have sparked intense debate about economic discrimination in the firearm industry. Many gun rights advocates think that these laws are unconstitutional because they tend to criminalize the cheapest guns, which artificially raises the price of legal guns. Robert Kouzmanoff, who owns guns, believes that melting point laws are problematic for these reasons. 

Robert Kouzmanoff:

What that was effectively doing is pricing out people from being able to own firearms. So as a classist, and some would even say a racist, endeavor to disarm certain population based on income. If you look at crime statistics, a lot of felonies and violent crimes are committed by lower income people. So that law was very specifically tailored to prevent low income, often times minorities, from being able to purchase a firearm. So, I’d definitely like to see that completely overturned because a lot of my students are elderly women and fixed income social security. And when I show them a firearm in class and say “this is kind of the Toyota Camry of pistols and this would be very effective for you”, they want to buy one. But then they see the price point is $550, and they just can’t buy it. And there’s nothing wrong with the cheaper firearms, generally speaking, they just can’t buy them here in Illinois.

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Despite criticisms of Illinois gun legislation, the state’s comparatively stringent policies have helped keep the rate of gun deaths lower than most other states. In 2013, the Violence Policy Center released a report which ranked Illinois 40th on a list of states based on their rate of annual gun deaths. However, the state has a long way to go before all Illinoisians are safe from gun violence. One pervasive problem is the widespread accessibility of illegal firearms. The state’s gun legislation is meaningless if policies cannot be consistently enforced. Tracy Parsons, the Community Relations Manager for the City of Champaign, also helps to coordinate CU Fresh Start, a community-led initiative to encourage gun offenders to change their lives by connecting them to social services and resources. He spoke about the challenge of illegal guns in Champaign-Urbana. 

Tracy Parsons:

I think guns are too accessible and most of the street crime activity is not done by folks who have legally obtained guns. You have to be able to hold accountable people who have access to the guns and people who are distributing them illegally. There has to be a tightening up of those individuals and those groups. I believe we need stronger legislation and things as it relates to how easy it is to get a gun. We should at the minimum be doing extensive background checks and mental health assessment checks and there should be waiting periods so that someone who’s just mad and ready to go get a gun can’t walk in and do that. Enforcing of those rules as well, I believe also is really important and so that’s where you have to hold those gun distributors accountable.

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Illegal ownership is especially dangerous for those who have been previously involved in violent situations, which is why Illinois enforces Red Flag laws. These policies work by flagging violent offenders and domestic abusers during background checks so that they can’t acquire firearms. However, these laws aren’t consistently enforced. Femi Fletcher serves on the board of directors for Courage Connection, a local organization dedicated to supporting victims of domestic violence. She is also a gun violence survivor. This is her perspective.

Femi Fletcher:

Well, I don’t have any statistics about the correlation between gun violence and—off the top of my head—gun violence and domestic violence. But I do know, that the longer a person stays in a violent situation, the more violent it tends to get. And, if you introduce guns to that environment, then certainly, it could get really, really bad. There are laws in place that say that if you’ve been convicted of a domestic violence incident, you are not able to own a gun. That obviously didn’t help my situation, right. My ex-husband was not able to own a gun, but was still able to secure one. So I guess my bigger concern is about illegal guns. 

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

The illegal gun market contributes greatly to crime and violence. The Giffords Law Center has identified over 2,000 gun dealers who failed to follow their state’s legislation in 2017 alone. Additionally, gun trafficking from states with less regulation to states with more stringent policies often deposits firearms in the hands of individuals who should not legally possess them. The City of Chicago Gun Trace Report, published in 2017, indicates that over 60% of illegal firearms recovered by the police had been trafficked into the city from another state. James Seikel agrees that illegal ownership is a serious issue, and his business does its best to sell firearms safely. 



James Seikel:

So the illegal gun market. Hypothetically in Illinois any firearms sale that is not reported to the state is illegal. In every other state that’s not necessarily the case. We require, in Illinois, all private firearm sales to be reported. I can tell you that right now that does not happen and in illegal firearm sales and the black market come in a lot of different forms. You have, I think I talked about it a little bit earlier, straw purchases. That’s where somebody who is legally allowed to purchase a firearm comes in, buys a gun, supposedly for themselves, and then gives it to somebody else. We do our best to vet those.

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Gun owners and gun control activists both hope to make our communities safer, though they take different approaches to the issue. Jen Straub speaks to Mom’s Demand Action’s  vision for gun ownership.

Jen Straub: 

We believe in responsible gun ownership. So we have, for example, a program called Be Smart, and our Be Smart volunteers go to PTA meetings, go to parenting groups, go to different places where they can talk to groups of adults who interact with children and talk about safe [pause] - well Smart is an acronym and it talks about storage, [pause] modeling responsible behavior to children, and it talks about asking if there are guns in the home and how they’re secured, about recognizing signs of danger when it comes to the children in your home, and their potential risk for suicide, and it talks about talking to other adults about this issue and about how we can make our homes safer. So, for example, that’s a huge outreach piece we do. We’re not anti-gun. We’re anti-gun-violence. 

Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

In January of 2020, Governor JB Pritzker signed a new bill aimed at gun sellers. This piece of legislation establishes a basis for licensing and approving gun dealers through both the Federal Bureau of Firearms and Explosives and the Illinois State Police. Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association has already announced their intention to challenge this bill in court. The coming years will likely bring increased tension over gun legislation because Governor Pritzker is committed to introducing expanded bans on especially harmful weapons, including guns with bump stocks and trigger cranks that could be used for mass shootings. On the national level, the Biden-Harris administration has taken action with bipartisan support in response to recent mass shootings in Boulder—which took the lives of ten individuals—and Atlanta—which took the lives of eight individuals, six of them being Asian-American women. Rethinking and revising our state’s and nation’s gun legislation has always been an essential component of the fight against gun violence. 

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Benjamin Chang, Narrator: 

Thank you for listening to “Be Smart: Creating Legislation to Curb Gun Violence,” the second episode of Changing the Narrative: Preventing Gun Violence in Champaign-Urbana, a student-produced podcast by Uni High’s oral history project team. Each episode in this series focuses on a component of anti-violence work, including community organizations, gun legislation, mental health, and trauma recovery. All interviews featured in this podcast were conducted in May 2019 by Uni’s eighth-grade class. Please tune in next week to hear about the connections between gun violence and mental health, with a focus on suicide prevention and education. If you’d like to listen to previous episodes of Changing the Narrative, check out the WILL website at will.illinois.edu/illinoisyouthmedia.

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