Sen. Durbin visit to Town Hall apartments spurs discussion on gun control
by Gretchen Rachel Hammond 2016-06-19
This article shared 1202 times since Sun Jun 19, 2016
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin ( D-Illinois ) paid a visit to the Center on Halsted and Heartland Housing's Town Hall Apartments in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood June 17.
There, he took the opportunity to tour the LGBTQ-inclusive senior housing facility constructed on the site of the decommissioned Town Hall police station and opened in August 2014.
Durbin also sat down for a candid discussion with four of the facility's residents George Garcia, Ted Swanson, Gary Sargeng and Carmen Garcia asking each of them about their lives and experiences as part of the Heartland Housing community.
While they responded positively, the residents raised concerns about the need for additional security at the facility particularly in terms of increased lighting outside the building.
In turn, Garcia then questioned Durbin about the current fight in Congress over gun control in the wake of the June 12 Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando Fla. that killed 49 people.
Durbin described the 15-hour filibuster launched by U.S. Senate Democrats earlier in the week.
"There were six of us and I stayed on the floor for 13 hours," he said. "The whole purpose was to force a vote on gun control. Republicans are in control and they had not scheduled anything for this week, even after Orlando, and we said 'That's wrong. We've got to at least debate this, we should vote on this, we should try to make things better.'"
"If somebody is a suspected terrorist, we keep them off airplanes but they can still go buy guns," Durbin added. "So why wouldn't we keep these firearms, particularly assault weapons, out of the hands of a suspected terrorist?"
Durbin added that he and his colleagues also wanted to examine the lax policies around the sale of such weapons at gun shows.
"Forty percent of the crime guns confiscated in Chicago come from gun shows in Northern Indiana," he said. "Why? No background check. You walk in there and show them a driver's license, fill up the trunk of your car and take the guns into Inglewood, Lawndale and the West Side. That's crazy. Why do we let that happen?"
Although senate Democrats were successful in forcing a vote ( expected early in the week of June 20 ), Durbin was not optimistic about the outcome.
"We will lose," he said. "We will lose because the other party is in control and the National Rifle Association is in control of most of their members. They are politically afraid."
When the residents asked Durbin what they could do to help, he urged them to pick up the phone.
"We know that 80 percent of gun owners agree with us on keeping guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists," he said. "Yet, from the people who called [my office], and it was over a thousand, 45 percent disagreed. We know they don't represent the general population. They are the people who were organized to call and fight change."
"I come from downstate," Durbin added. "People love to own guns down there. Overwhelmingly these are good, honest, law-abiding people. But, if you need an AR-15 to shoot a deer, then you ought to stick to fishing. So you will see the vote on Monday and I talked to some of my colleagues and said 'what do we do on Tuesday? Do we say 'I'll see you the next time there's a mass murder?' We can't do that."
NATIONAL Montana suit, equality campaign, Michigan St. incident, hacker group 2024-04-26 Video below - A class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Montana is challenging that state's policies restricting transgender people from updating the gender markers on their birth certificates and driver's licenses, Montana Public Radio reported. The suit, fi ...
Quigley looks ahead to November election at LGBTQ+ roundtable 2024-04-25 U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) discussed the importance of voting in this year's election and the consequences its results could have on the LGBTQ+ community during a roundtable discussion Thursday at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. ...
Center on Halsted looks ahead to New Horizons at annual Human First Gala 2024-04-22 New Horizons was the theme of this year's sold-out Center on Halsted (The Center) annual Human First Gala April 20 at The Geraghty in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Ahead of the awards ceremony, the Center's Board of ...
BOOKS Frank Bruni gets political in 'The Age of Grievance' 2024-04-18 In The Age of Grievance, longtime New York Times columnist and best-selling author Frank Bruni analyzes the ways in which grievance has come to define our current culture and politics, on both the right and left. ...
Hunter leads resolution declaring April 2024 as Minority Health Month 2024-04-18 --From a press release - SPRINGFIELD — To raise awareness about the importance of cardiovascular health, particularly among minority communities, State Senator Mattie Hunter passed a resolution declaring April 2024 as Minority Health Month in ...
Supreme Court allows Idaho ban on gender-affirming care for minors 2024-04-18 The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a request by Republican Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador to lift a lower court's temporary injunction preventing the state from enforcing its felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors, The ...
City Council passes Lesbian Visibility Week proclamation 2024-04-17 Chicago alderwomen Maria Hadden (49th) and Jessie Fuentes (26th) introduced a resolution at Chicago's April 17 City Council meeting to declare April 22-28 as Lesbian Visibility Week in Chicago. This is part of a nationwide effort ...
Morrison to run for Cook County clerk (UPDATED) 2024-04-17 Openly gay Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison has decided to run for the Cook County clerk position that opened following Karen Yarbrough's death, according to Politico Illinois Playbook. Playbook added that Morrison also wants to run ...
Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).
The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.