Durbin, Oberweis debate background checks for guns

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and GOP challenger Jim Oberweis disagreed Monday on whether to require universal background checks for firearms purchases, with Durbin saying it would reduce violence in a country "awash in guns" and Oberweis saying he's not convinced the checks would have the intended impact.

Oberweis, an Illinois state senator and entrepreneur from Sugar Grove, is trying to unseat Durbin - the U.S. Senate's No. 2 Democrat - in November. They met Monday before the Chicago Tribune editorial board for their first joint, televised appearance of the 2014 campaign.

Durbin, of Springfield, was a vocal supporter of federal legislation last year to require background checks for sales at gun shows and on the Internet - a measure supporters said would help stop criminals and people with mental health issues from getting weapons. The bill, which failed in the U.S. Senate, was one of several introduced after a gunman killed 20 children and six staff members at a Connecticut elementary school.

Current federal law requires the checks only for firearms purchased from federally licensed firearms dealers. Illinois also requires them for private guns sales and gun shows.

Durbin said Monday that extending mandatory background checks would help reduce violence in places like Chicago, where police said a recent study found 60 percent of the guns recovered in crimes came from states that have weaker gun laws, such as such Indiana, Wisconsin and Mississippi.

"Most responsible gun owners and sportsmen are not opposed to keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons and mentally unstable people," Durbin said.

But Oberweis said he hasn't seen evidence that the checks would reduce crime and that it wouldn't stop so-called straw purchasers who buy guns and then transfer them to people who shouldn't have them. He noted Chicago's violence problem exists despite Illinois having some of the nation's toughest gun laws.

"I want to understand what will actually work, what isn't just one more attempt, one more regulation that isn't going to be effective," Oberweis said.

He also said some gun owners are afraid of the government keeping a database of people with guns.

"People don't believe the government should have access to too much information," Oberweis said, pointing to instances of the government tracing cellphone use and messages. "That's an area that certainly has some concern."