Richard Daley almost gets it. Better late than never I guess.

The Chicago Tribune reports on a few of the restrictions Daley proposed:

The four newly proposed measures would automatically transfer to adult court cases of 15- to 17-year olds arrested with a gun; require at least five years behind bars for felons caught with weapons; require 10 years in prison for people who point guns at police and firefighters responding to emergencies; and make it a felony to commit a crime with a child in tow if that child is injured by gunfire.

The mayor also said the city again will submit several other proposals that have come close to passage in the past decade. One would require background checks for private gun sales.

In Richard Daley's mind, if you can't prevent law abiding citizens from legally buying handguns, the next best thing is to actually go after people who are committing crimes. The people of Chicago (at least the ones who aren't complete nuts like Daley) should be asking Daley why he didn't propose this years ago?

As for that last bit about background checks, I guess old habits die hard. I don't live anywhere near Illinois, but even I know that background checks for private guns sales are redundant because you can't legally own a gun in Illinois unless you have a FOID card, which includes a background check. And i'm not the only one:

“It’s not a surprise — same stuff, different year,” said Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.

Pearson said his group will continue to oppose the background checks because buyers already must have met the standards to own a Firearm Owner’s Identification card. But it has yet to evaluate the mayor’s new proposals, he said.

There is more:

Daley said he also will urge Congress to close gun-show loopholes to require background checks at those events and change federal law to make it possible to hold gun manufacturers “accountable for wrongdoing.”

Last I checked, gun manufacturers were not above the law. If they break the law, they are accountable for it. What Daley wants is to hold gun manufacturers accountable for the wrongdoing of the dangerous criminals he and his cronies love to sit down and have pow-wow's with.