Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy implored the press Monday to stop characterizing the city as being strict on guns.

“One of the things that I would like to again try to clear up, and I ask you to please stop adopting the rhetoric of the gun advocates,” Mr. McCarthy said. “Chicago does not have strict gun laws.”

“The state of Illinois does not have strict gun laws,” he continued.

Despite the superintendent’s claims, Chicago has some of the strictest gun-control mandates in the country. “Assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines are completely banned and, until a 2010 Supreme Court decision, so were handguns.

Residents now can get a permit to own a gun, but the process requires training, background checks and a firearm owner’s identification card.

Mr. McCarthy, flanked by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, told reporters that the state needs mandatory minimum sentences for criminals, saying that increasing punishments will help prevent guns from coming into the Chicago from the outside.

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