SPRINGFIELD – The mother of the youngest victim gunned down five years ago in a massacre at Northern Illinois University asked lawmakers Tuesday to give local police a say in issuing future permits to carry concealed weapons.

Mary Kay Mace told the House Judiciary Committee that county sheriffs often know the people in jurisdictions better than criminal background checks or mental health histories might reveal. The testimony came during a three-hour hearing on court-required gun legislation.

Mace is the mother of 19-year-old Ryann Mace of Carpentersville, one of five students killed on the DeKalb campus in February 2008 by Steven Kazmierczak, a former NIU graduate student with a history of mental illness who nonetheless was able to buy weapons legally.