Quote:

---

Illinois gun owners will have to report missing firearms to police and check the background of potential buyers under a law Gov. Pat Quinn enacted Sunday.

Quinn signed the legislation at a South Side park near where an off-duty Chicago police officer was killed with an illegally trafficked gun in 2010. He said the law will make it easier to recover stolen weapons and help ensure that only responsible people buy firearms. The measure passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly with healthy majorities.

"It's going to help our law enforcement," the Democratic governor said. "It's going to help all of us be safe."

Starting immediately, gun owners whose weapons are lost or stolen will have 72 hours to notify police. And beginning Jan. 1, individual gun owners will have to contact the Illinois State Police before selling a weapon or transferring ownership to ensure that the purchaser is allowed to have a gun.

Quinn said the legislation closes a loophole in the state's gun laws, which previously required gun show merchants and licensed firearms dealers — but not private sellers — to check that the customer had a valid firearm owner's identification card. Under the new law, private sellers must contact state police, who will then search records and determine the prospective buyer's eligibility.

According to the governor's office, Illinois joins seven other states and the District of Columbia in requiring gun owners report missing firearms to law enforcement.

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez was among several officials who spoke at Sunday's signing at Nat King Cole Park in the Chatham neighborhood. She said the new law will hold accountable people who buy guns legally and then sell them privately, sometimes to gang members without the credentials to own a weapon.

"This legislation makes perfect sense," said Grau, who spent 28 years with the Chicago Police Department. "It will make my officers safer and our communities safer." http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-quinn-gun-law-20130819
,0,3480343.story

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Niki2:
"This legislation makes perfect sense," said Grau, who spent 28 years with the Chicago Police Department. "It will make my officers safer and our communities safer."

---