Street thugs who use violence to settle disputes combined with easy access to firearms = senseless violence.
I always hoped this was a self-correcting problem, that enough of these lowlifes would kill each other to end the problem. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. There apparently exists no leadership of the various street tribes to intervene, either, and the police are seen as the enemy by the thug community.
The solution isn’t going to be easy or cheap, but it involves education and economic opportunity, an alternative path away from violence. It’ll take governments, religious leaders, parents and the thugs themselves to decide to change this.
Until then, keep your head down and hope they learn to hit their targets with greater accuracy.
Chicago shootings are proof that gun laws are not the issue. Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country. The national policy allowing this to occur is a disgrace. What we need is a step up in antigang policing and stricter sentencing for gun violence
===Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country.===
Stop with this dumb statement. Chicago’s strict gun laws have been repealed after the courts rules them unconstitutional. CCW is legal in Chicago. Our gun laws are as wide open as anywhere in Illinois.
Crime is down across the USA. Also gun crime is at a all time low. Gun crime is only going up in a few communities where guns laws DONT work because the few with the guns DONT follow the law.
well, we don’t have open carry in Chicago, but we do have FOID in Illinois and gun purchases are more restricted than in Indiana. easy drive across the border from anywhere in Chicago to get a gun. so Indiana is the problem.
After the RICO laws took the upper level and mid level gang leaders off the streets it created vacuums for new, younger and more violent gang members to rise up the ranks. Whereas before you had specific gangs controlling different blocks/neighborhoods with relative peace, once the leadership was taken out of the equation a power struggle resulted in who controlled which turfs. Illegal markets don’t have dispute resolution mechanisms other than violence.
–Crime is down across the USA. Also gun crime is at a all time low. –
Long-term, but there has been a national uptick in the last year. Try the google.
–Gun crime is only going up in a few communities where guns laws DONT work because the few with the guns DONT follow the law.–
That’s just a nonsense statement. First of all, where, exactly, in the United States can you not easily get a gun (Hawaii, maybe)?
Secondly, the cities that consistently have the highest violent crime rates — New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, Birmingham, Memphis — have long had CC laws.
How did this become a CC topic, anyway? One-trick ponies out there.
TA, the point was that Chicago does NOT have especially strict gun laws anymore, yet knuckleheads like Sue keep repeating that falsehood because it advances their political agenda that gun laws don’t work.
CC is worse than useless in Chicago. Eery building has a gun free sign. Can’t carry into parks, sorts events, bars. You can walk around the block, that’s about it.
Compare Chicago to Houston regarding gun laws.
- Four and a half - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:39 pm:
Wordslinger is right. Crime has ticked up after a long, steady decline. Chicago’s violent crime rate in 2014 was it’s lowest since the late 1960’s.
- Small town taxpayer - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:40 pm:
===Chicago shootings are proof that gun laws are not the issue. Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country.===
I might have agreed with these statements up until the end of 2013. Around that time Illinois and the City of Chicago lost court cases related to gun laws. As a result the City of Chicago then repealed some of its gun laws and Illinois enacted a concealed carry law.
I should point out that in 2014, 2015, and 2016, the number of killings in Chicago has increased.
The numbers are frightening. A lot of the “shooters” are juveniles feuding with each other over Facebook insults. Illinois should reevaluate it’s juvenile justice program.
-… but we do have FOID in Illinois and gun purchases are more restricted than in Indiana. easy drive across the border from anywhere in Chicago to get a gun. so Indiana is the problem.-
Easy drive across the border yes, but you ain’t buying a firearm from an Indiana dealer as an Illinois resident without a FOID. Buy a handgun in Indiana as an Illinois resident and it has to be shipped to an FFL in Illinois for pickup.
At the risk of being banned, my question is “Where is the Black Lives Matter protest against the black on black shootings?”
The Washington Post has a story about police shootings. According to the story, since 1/1/2015 there were 1502 people killed in police shootings. Of those 1502 people killed, 732 were white and 381 were black.
Not every group protests every issue. BLM has been activated when it’s shown that the shootings were by bad law enforcement officers who abused their authority.
Where is the NRA in decrying veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers? When is the NRA is going to start to spend millions of dollars to pass legislation to fund mental illness programs that would help things like veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers?
It is against federal law for a convicted felon to possess a gun. Every person that comes out of prison is told that and required to sign a form saying he/she understands this. On conviction it is a 5 year MANDATORY sentence in a Federal prison probably far from Chicago. Yet these people are charged with possession in state court and then sent on way with little or no time. Why not turn them over to Feds let them prosecute them and pay the freight. It is their law. Where is Durbin on this. All he does is propose more laws instead of telling the Federal prosecutor to enforce the ones we have .
–@GoodLieutenant- Don’t think many Chicago shooters buy their guns from a FFL.–
@Slippin’Jimmy - I would agree, and a Federal crime is committed every time that they don’t use an FFL when purchasing a handgun outside of their home state.
Notice the photo and reference to former Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson, Jr., the city’s last Republican mayor.
“Big Bill” was always faulted for the gang violence and corruption during the Prohibition Era (usually by the corrupt gang tolerant politicians who succeeded him on the Fifth Floor).
The annual murder rates from that lawless period seem quaint compared to the present day,
Amalia has been blaming Rauner, white males born in the USA, NRA, ISRA, hunters, gun shows, Trump, no bullet tracing, etc., ad nauseum. Indiana is the “boogey man du jour”.
**Where is the NRA in decrying veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers? When is the NRA is going to start to spend millions of dollars to pass legislation to fund mental illness programs that would help things like veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers?**
Automatic weapons have not been used in any of these crimes.
People seem to forget that it’s not only Indiana. Wisconsin recently changed their laws to make it incredibly easier to buy guns and there are strong connections between the gang affiliated violence in Milwaukee/Racine and Chicago. Straw buyers are a major issue and recent case in which two Milwaukee cops sued a gun store for knowingly selling a gun to a straw buyer. Many of these Wisconsin guns are making their into Illinois. Missouri falls in line with this as well. Additionally there is no federal firearms registration and tracking system (purposefully) so there is no way to really know statistically and legally how a legally manufactured weapon designed to kill ends up becoming an illegal weapon that has killed.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/10/22/violent-crime-statistics-for-every-city-in-america/ This report contains the FBI stats that came out for 2014 in Sept. 2015. You will find that Indianapolis has a much higher violent crime rate than Chicago, Indy being the #9 city in the country for highest violent crime rate. (hey, Indiana!) crimes by population tell the story re the Feds.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:17 am:
The national uptick started last year, after decades of decline.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/dueling-claims-on-crime-trend/
- Illinois Bob - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:18 am:
One question…what’s changed that led to this increase? Policy, the economy of illegal drug sales, or demographics?
- A Jack - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:23 am:
One thing certainly did change and that was the funding of anti-violence programs due to the budget stalemate.
- @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:28 am:
“One thing certainly did change and that was the funding of anti-violence programs due to the budget stalemate.”
No social agenda!
– MrJM
- 47th Ward - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:35 am:
Street thugs who use violence to settle disputes combined with easy access to firearms = senseless violence.
I always hoped this was a self-correcting problem, that enough of these lowlifes would kill each other to end the problem. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon. There apparently exists no leadership of the various street tribes to intervene, either, and the police are seen as the enemy by the thug community.
The solution isn’t going to be easy or cheap, but it involves education and economic opportunity, an alternative path away from violence. It’ll take governments, religious leaders, parents and the thugs themselves to decide to change this.
Until then, keep your head down and hope they learn to hit their targets with greater accuracy.
- Sue - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:46 am:
Chicago shootings are proof that gun laws are not the issue. Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country. The national policy allowing this to occur is a disgrace. What we need is a step up in antigang policing and stricter sentencing for gun violence
- 47th Ward - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 11:53 am:
===Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country.===
Stop with this dumb statement. Chicago’s strict gun laws have been repealed after the courts rules them unconstitutional. CCW is legal in Chicago. Our gun laws are as wide open as anywhere in Illinois.
- Stan Blu - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:02 pm:
Crime is down across the USA. Also gun crime is at a all time low. Gun crime is only going up in a few communities where guns laws DONT work because the few with the guns DONT follow the law.
- Amalia - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:03 pm:
well, we don’t have open carry in Chicago, but we do have FOID in Illinois and gun purchases are more restricted than in Indiana. easy drive across the border from anywhere in Chicago to get a gun. so Indiana is the problem.
- frisbee - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:03 pm:
After the RICO laws took the upper level and mid level gang leaders off the streets it created vacuums for new, younger and more violent gang members to rise up the ranks. Whereas before you had specific gangs controlling different blocks/neighborhoods with relative peace, once the leadership was taken out of the equation a power struggle resulted in who controlled which turfs. Illegal markets don’t have dispute resolution mechanisms other than violence.
- Team America - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:03 pm:
47th Ward - how many of those 2,159 people do you think were shot by a person with a concealed carry permit? Just sayin.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:10 pm:
–Crime is down across the USA. Also gun crime is at a all time low. –
Long-term, but there has been a national uptick in the last year. Try the google.
–Gun crime is only going up in a few communities where guns laws DONT work because the few with the guns DONT follow the law.–
That’s just a nonsense statement. First of all, where, exactly, in the United States can you not easily get a gun (Hawaii, maybe)?
Secondly, the cities that consistently have the highest violent crime rates — New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, Birmingham, Memphis — have long had CC laws.
How did this become a CC topic, anyway? One-trick ponies out there.
- 47th Ward - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:16 pm:
TA, the point was that Chicago does NOT have especially strict gun laws anymore, yet knuckleheads like Sue keep repeating that falsehood because it advances their political agenda that gun laws don’t work.
- Doogle - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:39 pm:
CC is worse than useless in Chicago. Eery building has a gun free sign. Can’t carry into parks, sorts events, bars. You can walk around the block, that’s about it.
Compare Chicago to Houston regarding gun laws.
- Four and a half - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:39 pm:
Wordslinger is right. Crime has ticked up after a long, steady decline. Chicago’s violent crime rate in 2014 was it’s lowest since the late 1960’s.
- Small town taxpayer - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 12:40 pm:
===Chicago shootings are proof that gun laws are not the issue. Chicago has perhaps the most stringent gun restrictions in the Country.===
I might have agreed with these statements up until the end of 2013. Around that time Illinois and the City of Chicago lost court cases related to gun laws. As a result the City of Chicago then repealed some of its gun laws and Illinois enacted a concealed carry law.
I should point out that in 2014, 2015, and 2016, the number of killings in Chicago has increased.
- Chicagonk - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 1:01 pm:
The numbers are frightening. A lot of the “shooters” are juveniles feuding with each other over Facebook insults. Illinois should reevaluate it’s juvenile justice program.
- TheGoodLieutenant - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 1:05 pm:
-… but we do have FOID in Illinois and gun purchases are more restricted than in Indiana. easy drive across the border from anywhere in Chicago to get a gun. so Indiana is the problem.-
Easy drive across the border yes, but you ain’t buying a firearm from an Indiana dealer as an Illinois resident without a FOID. Buy a handgun in Indiana as an Illinois resident and it has to be shipped to an FFL in Illinois for pickup.
- Huh? - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 1:28 pm:
At the risk of being banned, my question is “Where is the Black Lives Matter protest against the black on black shootings?”
The Washington Post has a story about police shootings. According to the story, since 1/1/2015 there were 1502 people killed in police shootings. Of those 1502 people killed, 732 were white and 381 were black.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utm_term=.9c2a1359fd24
So again, where are the BLM riots and protests against black on black shootings?
- Slippin' Jimmy - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 1:40 pm:
@GoodLieutenant- Don’t think many Chicago shooters buy their guns from a FFL.
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 1:42 pm:
To Huh?
Not every group protests every issue. BLM has been activated when it’s shown that the shootings were by bad law enforcement officers who abused their authority.
Where is the NRA in decrying veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers? When is the NRA is going to start to spend millions of dollars to pass legislation to fund mental illness programs that would help things like veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers?
- @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:02 pm:
“A lot of the ’shooters’ are juveniles feuding with each other over Facebook insults. Illinois should reevaluate it’s juvenile justice program.”
And criminalize Facebook?
– MrJM
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:03 pm:
“easy drive across the border from anywhere in Chicago to get a gun. so Indiana is the problem. ”
Using that logic, Indiana’s gun violence problem should be worse than Chicago’s, yet it isn’t.
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:12 pm:
It is against federal law for a convicted felon to possess a gun. Every person that comes out of prison is told that and required to sign a form saying he/she understands this. On conviction it is a 5 year MANDATORY sentence in a Federal prison probably far from Chicago. Yet these people are charged with possession in state court and then sent on way with little or no time. Why not turn them over to Feds let them prosecute them and pay the freight. It is their law. Where is Durbin on this. All he does is propose more laws instead of telling the Federal prosecutor to enforce the ones we have .
- Amalia - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:13 pm:
gun shows doing a great job of checking references. snark.
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:17 pm:
–@GoodLieutenant- Don’t think many Chicago shooters buy their guns from a FFL.–
@Slippin’Jimmy - I would agree, and a Federal crime is committed every time that they don’t use an FFL when purchasing a handgun outside of their home state.
- TheGoodLieutenant - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:24 pm:
– gun shows doing a great job of checking references. snark. –
Ahh, the gun show myth… Federal law applies for interstate transfers at gun shows as well, unlicensed seller or not. Zero exceptions.
- Four and a half - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:41 pm:
Anon @ 2:03
Indianapolis has a higher violent crime rate than Chicago.
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:49 pm:
Notice the photo and reference to former Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson, Jr., the city’s last Republican mayor.
“Big Bill” was always faulted for the gang violence and corruption during the Prohibition Era (usually by the corrupt gang tolerant politicians who succeeded him on the Fifth Floor).
The annual murder rates from that lawless period seem quaint compared to the present day,
- Anonymous - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 2:55 pm:
Chicago is more violent than Indianapolis. Chicago leads in murders. Amalia wants to blame the gun. Guns kill, as in murder, right?
Indianapolis ranked number 9. Eight of the country’s most violent cities, led by Chicago, experienced decreases last year.
http://fox59.com/2015/01/18/indy-ranks-in-top-ten-for-murder/
Amalia has been blaming Rauner, white males born in the USA, NRA, ISRA, hunters, gun shows, Trump, no bullet tracing, etc., ad nauseum. Indiana is the “boogey man du jour”.
- TheGoodLieutenant - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 3:07 pm:
– Indianapolis has a higher violent crime rate than Chicago. –
The homicide rate is not even close. Chicago 2016 to date 13.57 per 100K, Indy 7.19 per 100k
- DGD - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 3:32 pm:
**Where is the NRA in decrying veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers? When is the NRA is going to start to spend millions of dollars to pass legislation to fund mental illness programs that would help things like veterans who use automatic weapons to slaughter police officers?**
Automatic weapons have not been used in any of these crimes.
- Huh? - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 3:50 pm:
Don’t feed the anonymous trolls. To quote the venerable OW, pick a name.
- CLJ - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 4:29 pm:
People seem to forget that it’s not only Indiana. Wisconsin recently changed their laws to make it incredibly easier to buy guns and there are strong connections between the gang affiliated violence in Milwaukee/Racine and Chicago. Straw buyers are a major issue and recent case in which two Milwaukee cops sued a gun store for knowingly selling a gun to a straw buyer. Many of these Wisconsin guns are making their into Illinois. Missouri falls in line with this as well. Additionally there is no federal firearms registration and tracking system (purposefully) so there is no way to really know statistically and legally how a legally manufactured weapon designed to kill ends up becoming an illegal weapon that has killed.
- Chris - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 4:33 pm:
“Of those 1502 people killed, 732 were white and 381 were black.”
So, since there are about 40 million black people in the US, that means there must be about 77 million white people.
Does that mean the other 150 million “white” people are faking it?
- Amalia - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 4:58 pm:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/10/22/violent-crime-statistics-for-every-city-in-america/ This report contains the FBI stats that came out for 2014 in Sept. 2015. You will find that Indianapolis has a much higher violent crime rate than Chicago, Indy being the #9 city in the country for highest violent crime rate. (hey, Indiana!) crimes by population tell the story re the Feds.
- Ron - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 5:01 pm:
People don’t understand statistics. Indianapolis is a much more violent city. Property crime there is much worse too.
- Huh? - Monday, Jul 18, 16 @ 5:04 pm:
Chris @ 4:33 - What in the world are you trying to say?
I quoted a Washington Post story that said there are more white people shot by police than black people. That is all.
If you need help with the US census data, I am sure Google is more than willing to assist you.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 19, 16 @ 10:18 am:
Just curious which guns were used in those property crimes? How do you know those guns didn’t come from Illinois? Got data?