As Chicago awaits a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this month that could overturn its 28-year-old handgun ban, City Hall is considering a host of countermeasures that might set off another round of legal fights with gun advocates.



In an interview with the Tribune, Mayor Richard Daley acknowledged an uphill battle against the gun industry, which he described as the most powerful lobby in the United States. Even so, he vowed that in the event residents are allowed to have handguns at home, the city would take steps to ensure that officials can account for the weapons.



The mayor said his primary goal would be to protect police officers, paramedics and emergency workers from being shot when responding to an incident at a home. He said he also wants to save taxpayers from the financial cost of lawsuits if police shoot someone in the house because the officer felt threatened.



"If the ban is overturned, we will see a lot of common-sense approaches in the city aimed at protecting first responders," Daley said. "We have to have some type of registry. If a first responder goes to an apartment, they need to know if that individual has a gun."



The city is looking closely at models adopted in Washington, D.C., after the Supreme Court struck down its handgun ban two years ago and in California, which has some of the most comprehensive gun laws in the nation.



Chicago already requires registration of rifles and shotguns, which are legal in the city, and those regulations could easily be applied to handguns, according to the city's corporation counsel, Mara Georges. The city also has the option of rewriting its current ordinance to include stronger, more controversial measures, such as databases that track a gun from the manufacturer to the gun shop to its current owner, and ballistic fingerprinting, which requires manufacturers to test-fire guns and keep a record of the unique ballistic markings left on bullets and shell casings.



Gun control advocates said such requirements can help law enforcement identify guns that are linked to crimes. But gun rights advocates said such requirements deter law-abiding citizens from obtaining guns and lead to further litigation.



"What cities need to realize is that the 2nd Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights," said Alan Gura, the lead attorney representing plaintiffs in the case against Chicago being considered by the Supreme Court. "Laws that can be justified as having a real solid public safety purpose that don't interfere with people's rights, those will survive."



Gura also represented plaintiffs in the District of Columbia lawsuit in 2008.



Daley said he likes all aspects of the D.C. law and that Chicago could look there for ways to strengthen its licensing procedures. After its gun ban was overturned, the district adopted stringent requirements for prospective gun owners, including a four-hour class on firearm safety, at least an hour of firing training and passing an exam. The newly purchased gun also must undergo ballistics identification firing by police.



Next year, the district will require semi-automatic pistols to be micro-stamped, a controversial technique in which serial numbers are marked on cartridge cases that can be traced back to registered gun owners. California also has adopted a requirement for micro-stamping, a technology that was recently developed and is not yet in use. New York's legislature is considering a micro-stamping bill.



The NRA and other gun advocates said such measures could lead to a national database of gun registrations, which they oppose. And they said much of the new technology is unproven or ineffective.



"The D.C. City Council has made it nearly impossible for people to purchase and register firearms in the district," said NRA spokeswoman Rachel Parsons. "That's stepping on the Supreme Court decision that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right."



Gun advocates have lawsuits pending across the country challenging laws enacted after the district's gun ban was struck down. Two aspects of Chicago's firearms registration law — that guns be registered before the purchaser takes ownership and that gun owners re-register weapons every year and pay an annual tax — are also being challenged in the gun ban lawsuit. Attorneys said it is unlikely the Supreme Court will rule on those issues at this time, leaving the city open to further litigation.



Daley, who has made gun control a cornerstone of his administration, said he and other mayors struggle daily with the common philosophy that places too much value on guns and too little emphasis on the consequences of gun ownership.



"What has happened in this nation is we really believe that guns are better than the law to settle things," the mayor said. "We're not talking about hunters and gun collectors, but this whole idea that America should be governed more by guns than by the law. That really disturbs me."



The federal government, Daley said, has abdicated its responsibility of regulating interstate commerce in guns and placed that burden on local governments, without giving them leeway to make decisions based on situations in their own communities.



"It's their responsibility, not ours," Daley said. "Guns come here from other states, and we have to figure out how to respond to it."



The result, he said, is that the gun industry now has "carte blanche" across America.



Juliet Leftwich, legal director for the San Francisco-based Legal Community Against Violence, said Chicago could have a unique opportunity to fill the gaps in federal and state law. Gun dealers, for example, must have a federal license, but they are only minimally regulated by federal or state law, she said.



Requirements such as background checks for gun store employees, liability insurance and zoning restrictions could help to better regulate gun sales, said Leftwich, whose gun control group helped D.C. rewrite its law and has been in contact with Chicago.



There are no licensed firearms dealers in the city, and such regulations could keep Chicago from seeing an influx of dealers if the handgun ban is overturned, according to Georges.



"Much of the reason gun dealers haven't opened shop is because is because if they were to do so, as soon as someone were to purchase a handgun and take it out of the shop, they would be in violation of the city's ordinance and subject to arrest," Georges said.



She said the city could ban firearms dealers altogether or make gun shops subject to extremely tight regulations with requirements such as reporting what kind of guns they are selling and to whom they are selling them, perhaps even requiring such reports daily.



The Supreme Court declined to establish clear standards for regulating guns in the D.C. case, leaving it open to interpretation and further court challenges, legal experts said. While the Chicago case is expected to establish law on gun bans for every state, no one expects all the regulatory questions to be answered.



"Chicago has a great deal many restrictions already on the books. It is difficult to see how they could get them much tighter even if they wanted to," said Gura, the attorney challenging Chicago's gun ban. "Hopefully, the city will sit down with the court decision and read it carefully to make sure the city's laws are constitutional."



dglanton@tribune.com