Background Check Form+ - Western Illinois University: Fill & Download for Free

Let me turn the question around and ask how has GFSZ made schools any safer?My daughter-in-law attends Western Illinois University and this is a link to an article that describes a shooting that happened at the university a few weeks ago UPDATE: Suspected WIU shooter makes first court appearance in MacombI have done a bit of research on the shooter. He had been expelled from 2 high schools for bringing guns to school. He had an extensive juvenile record with many gun related charges. He ran with a gang for many years and supposedly made a break with the gang life to better his life. Before that, an older relative that introduced him to the gang life died in his arms when he was shot on the streets by a rival gang member.By his own admission, he was incarcerated for a significant amount of his teenage years. WIU felt sorry for him and decided to give him a chance and awarded him a scholarship.The problem is he brought his skills of conflict resolution with him. He grew up learning that the best way to resolve conflict is with a gun.The problem with laws is he violated many gun laws. First, guns are prohibited on college campuses. I am visiting my son and his wife right now and have walked the campus. Every building has a guns prohibited sign. In Illinois, these signs carry the weight of the law, meaning that it is even illegal for someone with a conceal carry permit to bring a gun into a private building or government building that is displaying the legal guns prohibited sign. It can result in the loss of the right to own guns and fines as well as jail time.In Illinois, one must have a FOID (Firearms Owner Identification) card to legally possess guns and ammunition. On must be 21 or older to apply for one. For those that are between 18 and 20, they can apply for one if they have their parent’s permission and if their parents also have FOID cards. Mom stated in a news article she does not allow guns in her home so I doubt she has a FOID card. Dad last had contact when he was around 5 and the shooter has no idea where his dad is.In addition, one cannot get a FOID card if they had any type of gun convictions in the previous 5 years, so his juvenile record made him ineligible.In Illinois, all gun purchases, either from an FFL or private party requires a background check and a 72 hour wait. The background check will not even start without a FOID card. To buy ammo, one must have a FOID card.The shooter in no way was able to legally purchase the handgun he used. To purchase a handgun from an FFL, one has to be 21, to purchase from a private party, one has to be 18 and have a FOID card, go through a background check, and be approved.He could not legally purchase or possess the ammo he used.So, as usual, a criminal did not get his gun through legal means. He got it through illegal means. Since he lived in the south side of Chicago, the area where a large number of murders take place daily and gang violence is a way of life, guns are easy to come by. They can be bought from the local drug dealers. Black market guns not only can be purchased without that pesky background check, they are often 25% the cost of one from a legal FFL that requires one to jump through all the hoops to legally purchase.What a deal, cheaper and no background check. You see, criminals believe they will never get caught.Look at the charges the shooter is facing. Do you see even one gun related charge? Of course not. Those charges are never made or if they are, they are quickly dropped in a plea agreement. Sometimes a jury is reluctant to convict on a gun charge when the person is already facing a long time for a serious charge like murder or attempted murder. If it is murder, why does it matter what tool was used to cause the murder.So the gun laws this shooter violated were purchasing or obtaining a gun illegally, possessing a gun without a FOID card, possessing ammo without a FOID card, discharging a gun in a gun free zone, carrying a gun in a gun-free zone, and being a prohibited person in possession of a gun.He violated two gun free school zone laws; granted, they were state laws that covered universities, but he violated them. I live in CA and have been to campuses of CA universities and they mostly do not have no guns allowed signs at every entrance like they do in Illinois and so I know Illinois is an outlier in having these signs everywhere. It did not stop the shooter. This signs are large at at every door. He saw them every time he entered his dorm building and entered every building on campus.By the way, at this time, the local police are not attempting to trace the firearm he used. He obtained it illegally and if a trace showed it was stolen, there is not much more they can do. It is evidence and they will keep it for years until the trial is over and all appeals are over. If they inform the person that it was stolen from, they would have to eventually return it. If they do not, they can destroy it and pretend their is one less gun on the streets.If the trace determines somehow who made the purchase and then sold it into the black market or if someone made a straw purchase and gave it to someone not eligible to own a firearm, very little will be done. Rarely do the Feds prosecute those crimes.As a high school teacher in a urban school, I have dealt with students who bring guns to school and the story is the same. They do not get prosecuted and today they do not even get suspended or expelled because the state and the education system does not want to punish these students, they want to feel sorry for them. They gun is disposed of in the trash and the kid is sent to conflict mediation or positive behavior intervention so they can feel better about themselves and less inclined to bring a gun to school. The better they feel about themselves, the less likely they will shoot up the school. When they do, well, it was unexpected because they were turing things around to become a better person.It is time for a reality check, gun laws do not stop those who intend to use a gun for evil purposes. They only stop the law abiding from obtaining guns for legal purposes.Finally, there are so many gun laws, so many that are not being enforced, and so many new ones being proposed in progressive liberal states that many once law abiding citizens are now ignoring them and yet they are not committing crimes against others with their once legal guns.I have a CCW and carried all the way on my trip from CA to IL. I had to disarm before entering IL because they do not recognize my CCW. During the entire trip not a single person saw my firearm. In many states I even went into stores with no guns allows signs because they do not carry the force of law in those states. Nobody knew.