Police Superintendent McCarthy Calls for Universal Background Checks


President Obama will be in Chicago Tuesday to address a conference of police chiefs from across the country. The president is expected to talk about gun control in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Oregon, and the higher homicide rates across the country this year. Today, Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and other national law enforcement personnel sent a message to Congress about what they want done about it.

President ObamaPresident Obama

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It was a message to the effect of: “We need help, we can’t do it alone.” Law enforcement personnel are calling for universal background checks for anyone purchasing a gun. Specifically, they believe background checks should be expanded to cover anyone purchasing a gun through private sales instead of just through licensed dealers. They also want improved sharing of mental health records and criminal records with the National Instant Criminal Background Check system. They say those records often do not get shared. 

“We have to keep this issue at the forefront. Arresting people with the guns, enforcing the law is not working because there’s something else behind the scenes that’s hurting it.”

–Garry McCarthy


In addition, they want the FBI to be allowed more time to complete a background check before a gun sale is allowed to go through. Law enforcement officials say 40 percent of guns are purchased through private sales. That means 40 percent of all gun purchases don’t involve a background check.

“Background checks do in fact work,” said Jim Johnson, chief of police for Baltimore County. “They blocked 2.4 million purchases between 1994, when the Brady Law took effect, and 2012. But the Brady Law applies only to dealers. What about those who trade in classifieds or gun shows? These private sales should be an issue we all focus on so we can be a safer society.”

“Chicago Tonight” asked the officials why mass shootings like Sandy Hook or Oregon couldn’t spur legislative action. They responded by reminding us that a federal bill to do this came three votes short of passage in 2013, and that nearly 90 percent of Americans polled on the issue agreed with expanded background checks. Though nobody would say the NRA by name, police chiefs implied that it was that organization that was holding up progress.

Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthyChicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy “We have to keep a groundswell underneath this,” said Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. “We have to keep this issue at the forefront. Arresting people with the guns, enforcing the law is not working because there’s something else behind the scenes that’s hurting it.”

The conference comes as homicides have noticeably spiked in major cities across the country. There has been a lot of talk about the controversies in Ferguson, Missouri and New York where YouTube videos of confrontations went viral. Earlier today at the conference, FBI Director James Comey spoke of a YouTube effect, where he says cops are afraid to get out of their cars literally for fear of being caught on tape, and that police work was suffering as a result. 

Recently, Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a comment in Washington, D.C. that he believed the country was allowing police departments to become “fetal” because of the chilling effect of YouTube videos. Superintendent McCarthy says he believes the mayor was sticking up for police officers, and that he believes there has been no chilling effect in Chicago.

“How can our officers be in a fetal position and yet we still have a 25 percent increase in gun arrests? Does that sound like somebody’s not doing their job? Or does it mean they are doing it better than before?” McCarthy said.

McCarthy also appeared this morning at an event outlining new training that the police force is undergoing to improve community relations. The goal, for lack of a better term, is to get police officers to be nicer when approaching people during stops as opposed to automatically becoming confrontational. 

McCarthy says that during his tenure, complaints against police have gone down even though African-American aldermen recently have cited community/police relations as reasons they want to see McCarthy removed from the top cop spot.


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