Chicago/Springfield (March 21, 2007)-The Illinois Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence (ICPGV), a project of Legal Community Against
Violence, today announced in press events in both Chicago and
Springfield the results of the largest and first-ever publicly released
bi-partisan poll commissioned to gauge voters’ attitudes about proposed
changes to state gun laws. ICPGV is a new statewide campaign,
representing law enforcement, the medical and public health
communities, faith-based organizations, local and state policymakers
and advocacy groups. It was formed to break the gridlock in
Springfield on passing common sense laws to prevent gun violence and
crime. From 1999 to 2004 guns killed 6,999 Illinois residents,
including 1,039 children.
The results of the unprecedented statewide survey show overwhelming
voter support statewide for six new gun laws to prevent these epidemic
levels of gun violence. With respect to the sales of military style
weapons, 8 in 10 Illinois voters favor a law to ban assault weapons,
and 77% of voters support a law to ban powerful 50-caliber sniper
rifles. “These polling numbers speak loudly and should trump the vocal
but very, very small minority of voters represented by the gun lobby in
Springfield,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. “Military style
assault weapons and powerful 50-caliber sniper rifles have no place in
any community in Illinois. They are weapons designed for the
battlefield, pure and simple.”
Three of the proposed laws specifically address handgun violence. An
overwhelming majority of voters (85%) strongly support laws requiring
handgun dealers to obtain a state license, with no difference among
Republicans (84%) and Democrats (86%). A proposal to require
background checks on all handgun sales received strong support from 80
% of voters and a law to limit handgun sales to one per person per
month is either strongly or somewhat favored by 7 out of 10 of voters.
“The fact is that no community is immune from gun violence,” said
Gurnee Police Chief Bob Jones, past president of the Illinois
Association of Chiefs of Police. “Gang related crime is spilling
out of the cities. We need to be able to stop
the flow of illegal guns by requiring state licensing just like we do
for other businesses, and putting limits on handgun purchases to
prevent the relatively small number of unethical sellers who supply
these weapons.”
Laws that would require greater gun owner responsibility are also
favored by nearly all voters, with 86% strongly supporting a
requirement that gun owners inform law enforcement if any of their guns
are lost or stolen. Eight in 10 voters are also strongly in favor of
requiring gun owners to lock their guns if there are children under age
18 in the household.
“For every person who dies from a gunshot wound, two others are injured
by firearms. These deaths and injuries represent lives, families and
communities shattered,” said Susan Avila, RN, MPH, Department of
Trauma, Cook County Stroger Hospital. “Medical professionals can only
do so much. Studies show that we can prevent this needless and costly
gun violence with laws that limit access to firearms.”
Nina Vinik, Legal Director of Legal Community Against Violence (LCAV)
added, “We have long known that these sensible policies are needed to
address the problem of gun crime and violence in Illinois. Now we know
that Illinois voters overwhelmingly agree.”
The bipartisan team of Overbrook Research (R) and Lake Research
Partners (D) conducted the statewide poll of 603 voters, as well as
additional surveys of 300 voters each (1,200) in four state senate
districts. Support for the proposed gun laws was equally strong in all
four districts, with majorities favoring each of the policies whether
heavily Republican or Democrat.
More information about ICPGV, including policy fact sheets providing a
brief analysis of each of the proposed changes to state law as well as
the polling results can be found at
www.icpgv.org .
Legal Community
Against Violence is a public interest law center dedicated to
preventing gun violence. LCAV focuses on policy reform at the state and
local levels and serves public officials and activists working to
prevent gun violence. Founded by lawyers in response to the tragic
shooting at 101 California Street in San Francisco in 1993, LCAV is the
country’s only organization devoted exclusively to providing legal
assistance in support of gun violence prevention.
