GARY | Indiana and Illinois law enforcement officials will meet Thursday in Gary to discuss the flow of guns from Indiana to Chicago's deadly streets.
Representatives of the U.S. attorney's office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Indiana and Illinois state police, Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart are expected to take part in the summit at the Genesis Convention Center.
Dart said last week a discussion of gun trafficking was long overdue because nearly 20 percent of weapons recovered by Chicago police from 2008 to 2012 were bought in Indiana, according to a study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
The Crime Lab is expected to give a presentation of its findings Thursday, said Chelsea Whittington, Gary's director of communications.
ATF identified Indiana in 2000 as a source for firearms purchased legally and later used in crimes, citing the ease with which weapons can be bought in Indiana coupled with neighboring Illinois' thirst for firearms because of its previously restrictive gun law.
Chicago once banned handguns, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared that to be unconstitutional in 2010. A federal court last December struck down Illinois' statewide ban on carrying concealed weapons.
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