Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order directing city officials to create new procurement standards for purchasing firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition. The order, signed in front of Brady, Live Free Illinois and other gun control activists, requires the city’s Department of Procurement Services to develop new criteria within 90 days for solicitations, contracts, renewals, extensions and noncompetitive purchases involving firearm-related products.
The executive order applies to city departments, including the Chicago Police Department, and creates a new framework for evaluating firearm businesses seeking contracts with the city. Those “standards” will go beyond cost, reliability, performance and legal compliance to examine the business practices of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers and subcontractors.
That means Mayor Johnson is putting gun control politics where it doesn’t belong. He’s putting up roadblocks between police officers and the equipment they rely upon to protect themselves and the public.
Police Equipment Isn’t a Political Prop
Law enforcement agencies select duty firearms and ammunition through extensive testing and evaluation. Reliability, accuracy, durability, ergonomics, training requirements and performance under difficult conditions all matter. Officers must have confidence that their equipment will function when their lives or the lives of others depend on it.
Those decisions should be made by experienced law enforcement professionals based on operational needs. They should not be manipulated, or limited, by politicians and activists seeking leverage over lawful firearm businesses.
Mayor Johnson described procurement as one of the “levers” available to advance the city’s policy objectives. His order allows bureaucratic officials to evaluate lawful firearm companies based on expansive “public-safety-related business practices,” regulatory inspection histories and whether firearms they previously sold were later recovered by law enforcement during the investigation of a crime. The result could be a restricted vendor pool shaped more by gun control politics than police requirements, placing bureaucracy above law enforcement’s safety.
Chicago police officers are not guinea pigs for a political gun control agenda. City officials should not exclude firearms, ammunition or equipment that best meets an officer’s safety needs merely because the manufacturer or supplier fails a subjective political test imposed by activists in City Hall.
Chicago Bureaucracy
This is hardly Chicago’s first attempt to answer criminal violence and gun misuse with more government bureaucracy and gun control politics.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot embraced increasingly restrictive gun control policies while Chicago’s crime crisis worsened and police staffing declined. Her administration eliminated 600 law enforcement positions in 2020 amid pressure from the “defund the police” movement. She later proposed cutting police funding by $80 million before seeking additional federal law enforcement assistance as violence continued.
Mayor Lightfoot’s approach burdened lawful gun owners while the city struggled to hold violent criminals accountable. Chicago voters ultimately rejected her bid for reelection after shootings, homicides and carjackings surged during her tenure.
Mayor Johnson has continued the pattern, arguably faring even worse. He previously praised the “defund the police” movement as a “political goal” and proclaimed “law enforcement is a sickness.” More recently, he created a stand-alone Department of Gun Violence Reduction with a reported annual budget of $100 million, shifting existing programs beneath another layer of city government after a violent June weekend left eight people dead and 40 wounded. He cried while lamenting Chicago’s murder and crime crisis was due to the election of former President Richard Nixon.
It’s no surprise Mayor Johnson also enjoys an extensive taxpayer-funded armed security detail while supporting restrictions that limit the choices available to ordinary citizens seeking to protect themselves. Now his administration is inserting political standards into the process used to equip the officers responsible for confronting Chicago’s violent criminals.
Different mayor. Same reflex. Rather than prioritizing police judgment, criminal accountability and proven public safety measures, City Hall reaches for another office, mandate or political restriction marketed in the name of “gun safety.”
Trace Data Doesn’t Establish Misconduct
The executive order also raises serious concerns about the use of firearm trace and recovery data in evaluating prospective vendors.
A firearm recovered by police may have been lawfully sold years earlier before being stolen, resold or unlawfully transferred. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has cautioned that trace data does not establish that a manufacturer, distributor or firearm retailer committed wrongdoing. A trace identifies the first retail sale and provides an investigative lead. It is not a determination of fault.
Using trace information as a vendor scorecard risks penalizing lawful businesses for criminal conduct they didn’t commit and could not control. High-volume manufacturers and retailers will also naturally appear in more traces because they sell more firearms.
City officials should act against any business proven to have violated the law. They should not treat lawful commerce in federally regulated products as evidence of misconduct.
The firearm industry already operates under extensive federal and state regulation. Manufacturers, distributors and firearm retailers are subject to licensing, serialization, recordkeeping and background check and inspection requirements administered by ATF.
Chicago’s Department of Procurement Services now has 90 days to translate Mayor Johnson’s order into purchasing standards. Police officers, taxpayers and firearm industry members should watch closely to see whether those rules preserve objective equipment testing and professional law enforcement judgment.
Chicago’s officers face real criminals and real dangers. Their duty firearms and ammunition are lifesaving equipment, not political bargaining chips. The professionals who carry that equipment should be able to select what best meets their needs without City Hall placing gun control ideology ahead of officer safety.