Buffalo Grove Countryside

Illinois gun background checks jump

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 20, 2012 10:54AM

Updated: December 22, 2012 1:41PM

Background checks conducted ahead of gun sales in Illinois have almost doubled since the school shootings in Connecticut on Dec. 14.

Illinois State Police information provided to The Associated Press shows that 12,557 checks were conducted through the state’s Firearms Transfer Inquiry Program between Friday and Tuesday. There were 6,870 checks during she same period a year earlier.

Gun sellers such as John Thurman say guns are being bought for both protection and out of concern further restrictions on firearm ownership are ahead after the shootings in Newtown, Conn., left 28 people dead. Thurman owns Bullet Express in Auburn in central Illinois.

Another factor possibly contributing to gun sales in Illinois is the court decision Dec. 11 striking down the state’s ban on concealed weapons.




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