A Democratic lawmaker in Chicago wants police to be able to scrutinize social media activity of handgun license applicants, CBS Chicago reports.
"This is something my community is demanding action on," said Rep. Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove.
"A lot of people who are having mental health issues will often post on their social media pages that they're about to hurt themselves or others. We need to give those people the help they need."
The proposal follows two mass shootings where the accused posted disturbing items on social media sites. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter used social media site Gab to spew hate toward Jews, and the alleged California shooter mocked people who offered "hopes and prayers" after mass shootings.
A state senator in New York in November introduced similar legislation but wanted handgun license applicants to provide log-in information and passwords to social media sites.
A spokesperson with the Illinois State Rifle Association said people should be incensed about proposal.
"When people look at this everyone who has a Facebook account or email account or Twitter account will be incensed or should be," Richard Pearson said.
Rebecca Glenberg from the ACLU also criticized the bill, saying it doesn't "say anything about how that list will be retained and for how long and what uses it might be put to."
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