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McCarthy on Concealed Carry: 'Maybe Next Year We'll Seize 8,000 Guns'

By Josh McGhee | December 30, 2013 2:44pm
 McCarthy was not concerned with an increase in the murder rate, but did expect a multitude of problems.
McCarthy was not concerned with an increase in the murder rate, but did expect a multitude of problems.
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DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday

CHICAGO — Supt. Garry McCarthy has a plethora of concerns with the new conceal and carry laws going into effect in 2014, but a spike in the murder rate is not one.

Monday afternoon, during a news conference about police presence in the Downtown area for New Year's Eve, McCarthy listed his concerns about the new law.

"The proliferation of firearms in this city is a problem. When those legal guns become illegal guns because they're not safeguarded, it becomes a problem," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said he did not believe the law, which next month will allow Illinois residents to apply for permits to carry concealed guns in public, would increase the murder rate, but did think it would increase the number of guns seized by police.

"Maybe next year we'll seize 8,000 guns," said McCarthy, clouting the 7,000 guns retrieved by police this year.

McCarthy lobbied for longer training hours before issuing a license for someone to become a legal gun owner.

"I've said it time and time again and I'll say it one more time, 16 hours of training is wholly inadequate to learn how a firearm works, become proficient with it and learn when you in fact can use it," McCarthy said. "We're going to have people who do not know how to use a gun. They're not going to know when they can use a gun and we're going to have the wrong people who are going to get shot."

McCarthy was also concerned with legal owners safe-guarding the weapons from criminals.

"There's no reports of how many people in the country get killed by their own gun, but it happens really frequently," said McCarthy adding that carrying a firearm is an "awesome responsibility" he didn't believe people were taking serious enough.

"I hear it being treated as something as casual as carrying your car keys. But, what if I leave my gun in the car? You don't leave your gun in the car. It's really that simple," McCarthy said. "When our officers leave guns in the car and they get stolen they get punished for that severely, because it's an awesome responsibility."