In Jake Vial’s 4/2/07 article, “Give me back my bullets” he stated that the two proposed bills in the Illinois Senate would ban commonly used shotguns for target practice and ban the purchase of multiple handguns in any 30-day period. I profess that I am somewhat ignorant of on this subject, but I cannot imagine why someone would need “any shotgun which contains its ammunition in a revolving cylinder, such as (but not limited to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12” or any semi-automatic shotgun with a magazine in excess of five rounds or a detachable magazine for target practice.

While SB102 does limit the purchase handguns, there is an application available to receive an exemption following an enhanced background check.

Jake also said, “these pieces of legislation don’t specifically target violent criminals.” But why should it make a distinction between a gun trafficker and a salesman who sold an illegal weapon to Joe Outfitter? Selling an illegal gun is selling an illegal gun, no matter who you are. After that, it’s up to the prosecutor to decide what punishment they wish to peruse.

Finally, these bills do not take away anyone’s guns. It only limits the future sale of said guns while clearly stating that current gun owners are allowed to keep the ones they have.

Zouyan Lu

graduate student