Opinion

Kirk has courage to tighten gun laws

Posted September 19, 2008 11:00 pm

In 2005 a Park Ridge resident had his federal gun dealer's license revoked after he was caught illegally selling guns to violent gangs. When he lost his license that should have been the end of it. But due to a loophole in the federal law, he was able to transfer his remaining stock of 207 firearms into his own name, and sell them all to those same gang members as a private citizen. Since then 25 of those guns have been linked to violent crimes. This situation cannot stand.

Mark Kirk is working to close the so-called fire sale loophole. He's introduced a bill to keep proven bad actors from selling lethal firearms to the highest bidder without so much as a background check. Kirk's leadership on this issue earned him the praise and endorsement of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg said of Kirk: "The sad truth is that some members of Congress don't have the courage to stand up, and Mark Kirk has." I agree with Mayor Bloomberg, and I'm going to stand up for Mark Kirk on Election Day; we cannot afford to lose him.

Missy Saalfield

Lake Forest

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