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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Illinois Lawmaker Presents Plan To Keep Firearms From Terrorists

Flickr user Ryo Chijiiwa / "Tommy Guns" (CC BY 2.0)

In the wake of the recent mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub, an Illinois legislator has a plan he says is a new path to keeping firearms from terrorists.

    

A plan before Congress seeks to ban anyone on the terrorism watch list from being able to buy a gun.

The proposal just introduced by Illinois State Representative Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat, takes another tack.

It would essentially prevent anyone charged with making a terrorist threat from having gun.

"We need to take reasonable precautions that reasonable people would agree could stop someone from going out and getting in a weapon and going in and perpetrating one of these acts,” Harris said.

Harris says by the time someone is convicted of such a charge it may be too late.

He says it includes adequate due process for someone who believes he was wrongfully included.

The legislation would also require police chiefs to take annual training on either concealed carry, the state Firearm Owners Identification Card law or firearms investigations.

Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
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