Sen. Durbin Claims Indiana Responsible for Chicago Gun Violence at ACB Hearing: ‘We Know How It Works Where You Live’

EXCERPT:

DURBIN: “I want to get to that point, but I’d like to stick with this for just a moment more. I’m honored to represent the city of Chicago and the State of Illinois. It’s a great city, but it has great problems, too. And one of them is gun violence. On the average we know in America 100 Americans are killed every day by gunfire, 40,000 per year. In the city of Chicago more than 3,200 people have been shot just this year, 3,200. According to city's gun trace report in 2017, the majority of illegally used or possessed firearms recovered in Chicago are traced back to states with less regulation over firearms, such as Indiana and Mississippi. The 2017 report found that Indiana was the source of 21 percent of all Chicago’s recovered crime guns. We know how it works, where you live, you know how it works. There's a traffic between Chicago, northern Indiana and Michigan going on constantly. Gun shows are held in Gary, Indiana and other places. And when they’re selling these firearms without background checks, unfortunately these gangbangers and thugs fill up their trunks of their cars with firearms and head into the city of Chicago and kill everyone from infants to older people. It’s just -- it's a horrific situation. Law enforcement is fighting it, trying to get Indiana to at least do background checks at these gun shows with limited success. And we’re trying to apply the standards that you disqualify yourself from buying a firearms to felonies and mental illness. And you want to take away part of that protection with your decision in this case.”

(h/t Mediaite)