Every time there is any kind of mass shooting or school shootings, anti-gun Democrats go running around calling for more gun control laws and even bans on more types of guns and all types of guns. All they keep saying is that guns are evil. Guns have no useful purpose and that if people didn’t have guns, there wouldn’t be any mass killings and it would drastically cut down on violence in general.
If that is true, then why is a place like Chicago one of the nation’s top locations for gun violence? Consider the fact that Chicago has gun control laws. Cook County has gun control laws, and then there are the many hoops one has to jump through to own or purchase a gun in the state of Illinois.
To legally own a firearm in the state, a person must apply for a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card issued by the Illinois State Police. Before issuing a FOID card, the state police conduct a background check using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) maintained and operated by the FBI. Even though state law specifies that the state police deny or issue a FOID card within 30 days of the application, the process often takes up to 60 days or longer due to a backlog of applications. Once issued, FOID cards are valid for 10 years unless otherwise revoked for various reasons prior to the 10-year expiration.
To purchase a firearm in Illinois, the seller must verify the validity of the buyer’s FOID card. This process is known as the Firearm Transfer Inquiry Program (FTIP). If the FOID card passes the FTIP check, the buyer must wait 24 hours before taking possession of the purchased rifle or shotgun and 72 hours for a handgun.
In addition to the state gun laws, Chicago has passed some of their own. They have banned the ownership and possession of assault weapons which includes a variety of semi-automatic weapons. They’ve also banned ammo magazines that hold more than 15 rounds of ammo. If a person 17-years-of-age or younger live in the home with a legally owned firearm, the firearm must have a trigger lock or be stored in a locked gun cabinet/safe or is secured to the body of the legal owner of the firearm. This makes gun ownership useless for self-defense if anyone breaks into the home, but liberal
Democrats care nothing about the right to defend one’s person, family or property.
After a federal judge overturned Chicago’s ban on all gun sales within the city, the city passed a new ordinance in June 2014 that specified that gun sales can only take place in certain locations in the city. All sales must be videotaped and the ordinance limits a person to purchasing only 1 firearm within a 30-day period.
Furthermore, Cook County, which encompasses the city of Chicago, also has a ban on assault weapons and certain semi-automatic weapons. No ammo magazine can hold more than 10 rounds of ammo. As for gun storage in the home, they have the same requirements as Chicago, except that the requirement for all guns to be locked and secured apply to any house containing anyone younger than 21.
If gun control advocates were right about the reason for more and stricter gun control laws, then Chicago should be one of the safest places in all of America.
However, the strict gun control laws have done little to curb gun violence and deaths. There were 437 homicides in 2011; 506 in 2012; 420 in 2013; 416 in 2014 and 468 in 2015. The 468 homicides for 2015 don’t include current death investigations that could be classified as homicides in the future. The 2015 homicide rate also does not include police involved shootings, including those deemed justifiable.
Note that not all homicides involved guns. As for shootings, there were 2,272 people shot in 2013. In 2014, the number of people shot in Chicago jumped to around 2,600 and in 2015 there were 2,939 people shot.
On January 23, 2017, the Chicago Tribune reported:
“As of early Monday, at least 228 people had been shot in Chicago so far this year, a 5.5 percent increase from the 216 shot in the same period time last year. There have been at least 42 homicides, up 23.5 percent from the 34 homicides from the same period in 2016.”
“Last January closed with 50 homicides, the most for that month in the city in at least 16 years, according to police statistics. The year ended with 783 homicides, the most since 1996, according to data collected by the Tribune.”
“This January has seen several violent weekends. Over the New Year’s weekend, 55 people were shot, five of them fatally. The next weekend saw a sharp drop, two killed and seven wounded. Over the following Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, 39 people were shot, 10 of them fatally.”
On April 25, 2017, the Chicago Tribune reported:
“Two people were killed and five others were wounded over a single hour in Chicago on Monday as the number of gunshot victims this year passed the 1,000 mark.”
“The city reached the grim milestone four days later than last year, which saw the worst gun violence in two decades, according to data kept by the Tribune.”
“As of Tuesday morning, at least 1,008 had been shot in Chicago this year. Last year, the city passed the 1,000 mark on April 20.”
“There have been at least 182 homicides this year, just two fewer than this time last year, according to Tribune data.”
Evidently, things have not improved in the Windy City as this past weekend saw an abundance of gun carnage, as reported:
“A spate of mass shootings in Chicago left at least five people dead and 50 others wounded during a night of catastrophic violence in Chicago.”
“During a Sunday press conference, police officials said there are so many investigations into so many shootings that they could offer few specifics.
But everyone from congressmen to community activists agree the shootings mark a crisis point in Chicago’s struggle with violence…”
“‘This hospital is almost like a trauma center in a war zone,’ community activist Eric Russell said.”
“According to police, at least five people were killed and nearly 50 others wounded in shootings in during a 24-hour period from Saturday into Sunday.”
The long track record of Chicago, a deadly and dangerous track record, clearly shows that strict gun control laws do little to nothing to prevent gun violence. What strict gun control laws do is to help prevent law abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves, their loved ones and their homes.
What has been happening in Chicago also tells us the problem is people, not guns. When one has a generation who have been taught that they are products of evolution – survival of the fittest – nature red in tooth and claw – and that you are what’s important – it’s only natural see these people act out what they have been taught. Evolution is based upon a violent history and process of violence, so guess what?