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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Cops fear state will dump gun database Cops fear state will dump gun database May 16, 2005 Police are worried the General Assembly is on the verge of passing legislation to scrap a statewide gun database they use to identify suspects such as an 84-year-old Downstate man who allegedly supplied Chicago gang members with weapons. Without the database containing 2.1 million gun transactions, investigators would not have been able to obtain a gunrunning charge last month against the man, Garnett L. Cochran of Herrin, said Chicago Police Sgt. John Kohles. The case began on the West Side with the April 2004 traffic stop of Antonio Guzman, a 28-year-old sex offender and gang member with "Thuglife" tattooed on his left arm. Police said they found a pistol and obtained a weapons charge against Guzman. The charge was dismissed, but he was later returned to prison for violating the sex offender law by failing to register his address with the state. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, meanwhile, determined the 9mm FEG handgun was originally bought 166 days earlier by Cochran. A search of the Illinois State Police gun database showed Cochran used his firearm owner's identification card to buy weapons 22 times. Police contacted those dealers and learned Cochran bought 40 guns including the FEG. Helped in Ceriale case Cochran allegedly confessed that he illegally sold guns to a man and woman from Herrin for a 25 percent markup. The man, Timothy Newcombe, 36, and the woman, Victoria Shea, 20, also have been charged with gunrunning. They allegedly sold at least 15 guns to members of the Spanish Cobras gang in Chicago, police said. Police now are interviewing gang members to find out what happened to the guns. In Cochran's home, police said they found a tool often used to grind serial numbers off illegal weapons. Without the numbers, the guns would be nearly impossible to trace back to the original owner if they were recovered in a crime, police said. The State Police gun database -- which includes information about how many times an individual has bought firearms, if they were handguns or long guns, and when and where they were bought -- was instrumental in the Downstate investigation, Kohles said. The same database was used to identify the gun trafficker who sold the weapon that killed Chicago Police Officer Michael Ceriale, he said. "If we didn't have this information, we would be fighting this battle [with] blinders on," said Michael Smith, a supervisor in the Cook County state's attorney's office. But Todd Vandermyde of the National Rifle Association said the database is used to violate the privacy of gun owners. He is pushing a bill that would require the State Police to destroy records of gun transactions within 90 days -- effectively dismantling the database. The bill also would require state background checks for anyone buying a firearm at a gun show: a loophole Mayor Daley and other gun-control advocates have wanted closed for a long time. Motives questioned The bill sailed through the Senate last month on a 37 to 24 vote and is expected to go before the House next week for approval. "This will be a bill that lands on the governor's desk," Vandermyde said. "If he wants gun show legislation, he will have to sign this." He accused the police of using the database to harass Chicago residents who buy firearms. Chicago has a virtual ban on handgun ownership. So police scan the database for city residents whose firearm owner's cards were activated, then visit their homes to see if they illegally possess weapons, Vandermyde claimed. The database was only intended to be used to investigate known crimes, not for such "fishing expeditions," Vandermyde said. He pointed to Chicago elementary school principal John Lewis, who was suspended pending the discovery of dozens of allegedly unregistered guns in his home. But Smith insisted police are not using the database improperly. "It starts with a crime being committed with a gun," he said. "They [the NRA] are espousing that this is a tool of harassment. Quite the opposite. This narrows the field of suspects. It helps us fine-tune our investigations."
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#1. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#0)
That is why, imperfect though they be, it "pays" to support the NRA and Gun Owners of America.
GOA is ok, so is JPFO. But the NRA sells out too often.
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