Getting caught with certain weapons near Chicago nursing homes would come with a stiff fine and possible jail time under the City Council’s bid to create safe zones like those already in place around parks, schools and CTA stations.
People caught illegally possessing firearms already face criminal penalties, but West Side Ald. Christopher Taliaferro, 29th, has proposed adding fines in some cases. Getting caught with an assault weapon or a high-capacity clip within 500 feet of a nursing home would come with a fine of $1,000 to $5,000 and a possible three to six months behind bars for a first offense. Fines and potential jail time would go up after three offenses.
Having laser sights, silencers or weapons like large knives or brass knuckles near nursing homes also would come with additional fines and possible jail time under the measure, which passed the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. The ordinance will head to the full City Council next month.
In other parts of the city, assault weapons, silencers and extended clips are confiscated. Possession of other types of illegal weapons can lead to smaller fines and up to six months in jail, according to city code.
Taliaferro told a story Tuesday about looking out the window of a senior center in his ward to see a young man with a gun selling drugs.
“They should not have to deal with this on a daily basis,” he said. “Our seniors should enjoy a quality of life just like all of us do.”
The city has long had similar “safety zones” around schools, parks and CTA facilities, and police officials told aldermen that the tougher standards allow them “additional tools” to combat crime.
“We would look at these enhanced penalties as another tool in our tool box that will help us combat the gun violence that’s happening in the city,” Deputy Chief Al Nagode said.
Also Tuesday, a crowd of West Side residents came to the committee to back an anti-loitering ordinance proposed by Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th. Aldermen discussed the package but didn’t vote amid concerns about its constitutionality.
“It is unacceptable as taxpaying residents that we cannot board the Blue Line train to go to work at 7 a.m. or return in the evening after working hard all day without seeing the same people standing in front of the train station soliciting you to purchase (drugs),” resident Kimberly Muhammad said.
Ervin and West Side Ald. Michael Scott Jr., 24th, said they will work with the city Law Department to try to craft a new version of the ordinance that will stand up to a legal challenge.
“We want a constitutionally sound ordinance,” Ervin said. “At the same time, we want our community to feel safe, and this loitering issue, as it relates to narcotics, gangs, prostitution, other criminal activity, is a real challenge. And while we understand people have rights, residents have rights too.”
“Some people like the summer. Folks in my community are afraid of the summer,” he said.
Some blocks on the West Side see people turn up with out-of-state plates to sell drugs each morning, Scott said.
“We have folks that are almost held hostage in their homes because people are outside, on their blocks, doing criminal activity,” Scott said. “We want police to be able to say, ‘You can’t sit here in front of Mrs. Jones’ home like this.'”
It remains to be seen how tough the city can get.
The City Council passed an anti-gang loitering law under Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1992, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1999 as too vague. The council passed a new, watered-down anti-loitering ordinance a year later.
Twitter @_johnbyrne
RELATED
Explainer: Are Chicago’s gun laws that strict? “
Gun rights group suing DCFS over handgun ban at home day cares “
Chicago-area students stage walkouts to demand action on gun violence “
