Chicago Mayor Daley: Cop's Death Amplifies Need for Gun Ban

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ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:

STORY: Daley 'Regrets' Crude Comment to Reporter  

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Mayor Daley said Thursday that the shooting of police officer Thomas Wortham reinforces the need for the city's handgun ban.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide by the end of June whether the ban is constitutional.

The mayor's comments came at a news conference he had previously scheduled to talk about the ban and the pending lawsuit challenging it.

"You better believe it does add, it does comment on it," the mayor said referring to the Wortham's murder.

The 30-year-old officer was shot as he left his father's house on the South Side early Thursday morning by would be robbers.

"If this person didn't have this, never happened," the mayor said, holding up a handgun on display for the news conference.

"Access to guns in America, everybody can have guns, doesn't matter who they are, doesn't matter if they have a criminal record, or not, they have access to guns and that's the most frustrating issue."

But the mayor got testy when a reporter questioned the ban's effectiveness in light of what happened. Holding a rifle in his hands the mayor defended the ban.

"Oh, it's been very effective, if I put this up your butt you'll find out how effective it is. If you put a round up your, you'll know," he said.

One of the plaintiffs challenging Chicago's gun ban says the mayor has it all wrong. The officer's death points out the need for law-abiding people in Chicago to own handguns.

"This demonstrates right there, the need for people in their homes to have the right to protect themselves," said Otis McDonald.

In the Wortham case, the officer's father, a retired Chicago Police officer, rushed to his son's aid. Using his own handgun-- retired police officers are allowed to legally keep their weapons-- he shot two of the suspects, killing one of them.

Both the mayor and McDonald offered their condolences to the officer's family, and in one other area of common ground, they both called for stepped up efforts to go after gun traffickers.