“Gun violence has reached almost endemic levels in Chicago,” thinkprogress.org declares, after another ballistically active Windy City weekend (22 people shot in 24-hours). Adam Peck meant to use the word “epidemic.” “Endemic” means “(of a disease or condition) regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.” “In epidemiology,” Wikipedia informs, “an infection is said to be endemic in a population when that infection is maintained in the population without the need for external inputs.” That’s the exact opposite of Peck’s excuse for his gun control-crazy town’s shootings . . .
While Chicago has passed numerous measures in an attempt to make it harder for people to purchase deadly weapons, the rest of the state has lagged far behind. Forty three percent of guns seized in the Chicagoland area were purchased elsewhere in the state, while most of the remaining guns were brought to the city from out of state.
In other words, it wuzzn’t me. Or, look at that baby!
An 11-year-old girl in Chicago was shot and killed late last week when a stray bullet flew through a window and struck her in the head during a sleepover at a nearby friend’s house.
Blaming surrounding states’ gun laws for Chicago’s epidemic of “gun violence” or, indeed, Shamiya Adams’ death, is like Rhode Island blaming Massachusetts’ car dealerships for the Ocean State’s drunk driving fatalities. Or the death of a little girl at a drunk driver’s hands.
Simply put, criminals get guns. The idea that you can choke off their supply to reduce gang-related shootings is beyond ludicrous. It’s a ruse. A justification for limiting Chicago residents’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Which helps maintain the status quo. And puts Shamiya Adams and other innocents in harm’s way.
So what could be/should be done to quell Chicago’s “gun violence”? Longer prison sentences? Federal anti-corruption task force? How can you stop the shootings?
Either send in the Marines, or let local citizens arm themselves without fearing persecution for being so armed.
“Sending in the Marines” would be just as unconstitutional as the current gun control scheme enforced there.
Miss O’Leary’s cow?
That won’t work this time. After the fire, they passed an ordinance against wood construction for most buildings.
That was back when crazy people who didn’t properly understand cause and effect were in charge of Chicago. If Rahm and the Streetlight Stalker were in charge back then, they would have done the rational thing and banned fire and livestock.
Mrs. Kim’s nuke?
Fits the media narrative to further gun control.
Last summer it was George Zimmerman trial, this summer it’s Chicago’s “gun violence epidemic.”
Don’t buy into the meme.
The Truth About Violence in Chicago
Judged as a whole, Chicago is doing a lot of things right. Judged by the plight of its least fortunate, that’s not nearly enough.
http://reason.com/archives/2014/07/21/the-truth-about-violence-in-chicago
“Right now, the city is getting national as well as local attention for outbreaks of bloodshed, which reinforce its reputation as the murder capital of America. In terms of total homicides, it may be. But that figure fails to account for population.
In the overall rate of violent crime, Chicago ranks 19th—slightly worse than Minneapolis and better than Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Nashville. It has half as much violent crime, per capita, as Detroit or Oakland, California.
Even when it comes to homicide, Chicago is enjoying, relatively speaking, a golden age. In 1992, it had 943 murders—2.6 per day. Last year, it had 415—1.1 per day. Two decades ago, such progress was the stuff of dreams.
In 2013, the murder rate (homicides per 100,000 residents) was the lowest it had been since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House. So far, the homicide total for 2014 is 206, a bit below last year’s pace.”
The piece continues…
“No one doubts that the bulk of the violence is concentrated in particular places. People in most of the city are pretty safe. In the remainder of the city, though, the level of violence is staggering.
What accounts for it? One is the strength and reach of street gangs. In 2012, the Chicago Crime Commission reported that Chicago has more gang members than any city in America. Some 80 percent of murders involve gang members, either as the killer or the killed.
Gangs are as much a symptom of the city’s problems as a cause. Chicago has a lot of areas that are almost entirely black—the result of decades of deliberate policies of racial segregation—and largely poor. Jobs are scarce, vacant buildings abound, schools are often inferior, good role models are hard to come by—and crime is a brutal fact of daily life.”
No one has come up with a way to untangle it that is practically plausible and politically salable. More police would help. So would ending the drug war. Better schools hold some promise. Economic development is indispensable. Neglect will only make things worse.”
Interesting stats.
Sounds like the Democrat anti-gun mavens are using the more than willing lefty press to portray Chicago as a tragic minority inner-city gang driven version of white bread Newtown. Stinkin’ Democrats are once again attempting to justify support for ever more widespread gun restrictions with an eye toward confiscation at the expense of law abiding gun owners on the fiction that it will stop the “gun violence”.
Thanks for the data.
Sending marines into a U.S. city to control the people has got to be the worst idea I have ever heard since….. I’ll get back to you on that.
Posse Cmitatus Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
The militarization of our police forces along with DHS training initiatives to act as the central authority in the event of an emergency have been designed specifically to get around it.
Can we just ban Chicago?
Ban it, no. We should be able to force it to secede though, first from Illinois, then from the nation.
that will never happen. non-Chicago Illinois keeps Chicago afloat financially. If you cut off the taxes from the rest of the state, Chicago would be worse then Detroit.
They could try actually locking up known violent offenders, and keeping them in prison for the term of their sentence. Nah, that would never work.
They’ve got too many people to lock up for having a dime bag of weed to have any prison cells available for poor misunderstood victims of circumstance who are just about to turn their lives around donchano. [/sarc]
Let’s not forget that arresting bad guys with guns, who don’t particularly care for the police, is not nearly as much fun as arresting some poor slob driving around with some weed.
Wrong, it’s a lot more fun. It’s also a lot harder.
Not easy to smell ‘gun’ in a car, the ALCU has decided frisks are racist, and a serious charge like that means it’s harder to convict.
This would be an excellent place to start. Two recent homicides were committed by individuals who were either previously convicted for murder or attempted murder.
Making guns more illegal won’t do anything and they all know it. Handguns were illegal in Chicago from 1982-2010, yet somehow 20,000 people managed to find themselves murdered.
Yet, it’s so much easier to blame some plastic and metal vs blaming 1) the shooters and 2) the politicians whose 50 years of welfare policies that have destroyed these neighborhoods, communities and most of all, families.
Illustrating Chicago Crime, Murder and Mayhem at http://www.heyjackass.com.
You just don’t understand. When a statist policy fails, it’s not because the policy is bad, it’s because it didn’t go far enough (see the New Deal, China’s and the USSR’s Five Year Plans, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, TARP, any “stimulus” spending, the War on Drugs). Just imagine how much more violence there would be, if they hadn’t implemented these measures!
So to fully stop gang members with illegal handguns from killing each other they need to stop the non-criminals from carrying concealed legally, ban semi-auto clones of military rifles for non-criminals, and ban magazines over 10-rounds from non-criminals. And sure…if they do that the crime rate might continue to climb, but they’ll assure us it would have climbed more if they hadn’t (and you trust them, don’t you?). So the only solution will be to expand further.
That’s very Keynesian of you.
Apparently, JohnTX missed the implicit /sarc tag.
Contact Detroit Police Chief James Craig , and ask him for his advice on arming honest citizens.
+1
+ 2
+3
You can’t have a serious and honest discussion of what is really going on in America’s inner cities. So screw it.
And the left replies, “That’s racist!” Thus proving your point.
How dare you say that blacks disproportionally commit and are affected by drugs and gang violence! It’s like there’s a cultural issue nobody wants to speak of!
Ever since the original Reefer Madness, through Nixon, the War on (some) Drugs has been overtly racist.
What’s going on in the inner cities will never be fixed; it requires a multifaceted investment of resources over the long term which politicians will not support because it will not get them results in time for the next election.
And the continuing strife, especially for the Democrats who overwhelming own the urban inner city landscape, is needed to keep their political base distracted and in line come election day.
Class warfare and fear with tentacles that reach well into the vote rich suburbs, the bulwark of Democrat strategy and strength.
Nailed it!
(1) Get a police chief like Craig in Detroit. (edit: IdahoPete…didn’t see your post before I posted).
(2) Get something like this going there:
http://armedcitizenproject.org/about
(3) Get rid of the politicians that think they “know best” for how people should live their lives…get rid of the Progressive Statists that try to micromanage EVERYTHING.
That is, leave people alone; if they want to tool up (for personal protection or ANY reason), that should be THEIR choice.
(4) Stop lying to people about what the problems are and how to fix them. The world sees through the lies; the Chicago model is an abject failure. Just stop.
“Stop lying to people about what the problems are and how to fix them.”
Good call, but – Chicago politicians? to stop lying? When the glaciers return and cover Chicago in 5000′ of ice. Maybe.
You’re on the right track JR but it needs to go a step further to get the situation under control. They need a volunteer citizen militia on patrol daily to shut down the illegal activities, drive-by shootings, etc. Civility will return and people won’t have to be afraid to walk in their own neighborhoods.
They will never understand that restricting the rights of those who obey the law will never, ever affect the behavior of criminals.
You know that is not true! It DEFINITELY affects the actions of criminals, making them bolder, more aggressive, more fearless, more shameless, etc, etc.
That never happens at jackinthebox or mcdonalds.
Simple, arm their citizens. Or at least let them arm themselves.
As a resident of one of Illinois’ border states, I take serious issue with the assertion that our gun laws somehow contribute to Chicago’s violence.
It is a cultural issue. Chicago can address and take steps to change the culture of gangs and violence in their poverty-stricken neighborhoods, or they can continue to treat the symptoms and continue to lose.
The city of Chicago has spent tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars fighting a losing series of legal battles against the NRA. Spend that money elevating neighborhoods and their citizens out of blight, and see what positive changes take place. In the meantime, let the good people arm and defend themselves from the bad. Chicago PD and Chicago.gov is clearly incompetent and/or incapable of doing so.
“It is a cultural issue. Chicago can address and take steps to change the culture of gangs and violence in their poverty-stricken neighborhoods, or they can continue to treat the symptoms and continue to lose.”
QFT.
I think “endemic” is exactly the right word to describe Chicago’s violence problem. It has been that way for decades. While other places change and improve, Chicago’s insular culture and corrupt politics ensure that its body politic continues to suffer.
1. End welfare. Yupe, when 50% of kids are born without father in their lives they become feral. It’s been proven, then throw in generational poverty and lack of willingness to strive for something better. This is what you get.
2. Stop glamorizing the thug culture.
3. Stop treating ordinary citizens like criminals and allow themselves to be armed.
Yeah, right or just stop worrying about Chicago and not go there. Until the money runs out, this will be the status quo.
2nd largest city in Illinois, Aurora, had 0 (zero) murders in 2010. Yeah, they have some of the same general state gun-control laws as Chicago. Big difference was they didn’t focus on the object to get to that number, but on who was causing it.
https://www.aurora-il.org/detail_news.php?newsDateID=1196
And a little more info about: it’s not the gun, but the criminal.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/america-doesnt-have-a-gun-problem-it-has-a-gang-problem/
Your link says your facts are wrong, it was 2012, for the first time since 1946.
I guess Rahm can’t find Aurora to ask their advice, huh?
Over the 4th weekend when Chicago has 84 gunshot victims Urbanized Northern Virginia with shall issue, open carry, no background check for private sales, no FOID, no magazine size limitations had exactly zero gunshot victims. I would like to see the Mayor Emanuel and Chief McCarthy’s explanation why that is so.
Constitutional carry. Remove the default prohibition of good people carrying weapons to defend themselves.
Dilute the gang/drug crime culture and introduce new culture by dropping off a few hundred busloads of illegal immigrants…..F&F weapons too
J/k
At this point I think the people and politicians in Chicagoland welcome any and all suggestions. You would think after a while they (the people of Chicago) would votet to “throw the rascals out” (current bunch of stooge bureaucrats) and give someone else a shot…er I mean chance.
http://reason.com/archives/2014/07/21/the-truth-about-violence-in-chicago
It’s not that bad and we don’t really care anyway.
Public school vouchers, shall issue, castle doctrine and taper off welfare benefits instead of the sudden break.
Chicago keeps trying the same old “solution” (gun control), expecting a different outcome.
Rocket science at work among the low-information types.
John
The Truth About Violence in Chicago
http://reason.com/archives/2014/07/21/the-truth-about-violence-in-chicago
No one doubts that the bulk of the violence is concentrated in particular places. People in most of the city are pretty safe. In the remainder of the city, though, the level of violence is staggering.
What accounts for it? One is the strength and reach of street gangs. In 2012, the Chicago Crime Commission reported that Chicago has more gang members than any city in America. Some 80 percent of murders involve gang members, either as the killer or the killed.
Gangs are as much a symptom of the city’s problems as a cause. Chicago has a lot of areas that are almost entirely black—the result of decades of deliberate policies of racial segregation—and largely poor. Jobs are scarce, vacant buildings abound, schools are often inferior, good role models are hard to come by—and crime is a brutal fact of daily life.
IMHO, while the violence in Chicago is bad, it is concentrated into a certain area and it is mostly gang on gang attacks. Innocent bystanders are because those areas are like a war zone.
The Chicago Gang, Gun and poverty problems are used as excuse for gun control and why they need more money. Nothing will solve the problem until the people themselves change in the meantime, the violence will used for all kinds of excuses and political agendas
I was going to post this timely link too. It’s kind of depressing how often I fall for politicians’ rants and media echoes even slightly. I too thought Chicago had a terrible murder rate, worst in the country etc etc etc.
But I am also encouraged to find once again that the alarmists are full of it, sound and fury signifying nothing unusual. Sure murder is bad. But it’s not like Chicago has degenerated into some hell on earth.
Daddy’s been replaced by Uncle Sugar. Why work when you can stand on the street corner and make 10 times as much selling drugs AND keep your benefits.
Let the gangsters kill each other. Eventually, it will erode the Chicago Machine’s base.
We can only wish. They breed faster than they die off.
What should be done?
Nothing. Let the residents wallow in the mire they created. Eventually they will get tired of it and fight back against the gangs on the streets and in the government. Or not, in which case they deserve whatever they get.
I live about 45 minutes from Chicago and go there every other weekend. You’re never gonna “stop” the shootings permanently unless there’s a complete civilian disarmament. Even THEN there will always be a flow of illegal weapons. Yes, my friends, the price of freedom is that there will always be people who will abuse that freedom, no matter what.
Longer prison sentences?
How about ANY prison sentences? Put a few gang-bangers in jail and throw away the key. Maybe the message will spread…
More government. If Chicago just had more bureaucrats, more laws, less freedom, higher taxes, and more arrests for meaningless crimes, than safety would finally be realized. Chicago is proof of the liberal progressive dream, if only the NRA wouldn’t stop murdering these innocent children.
/
Since the cops have no duty to protect people, it seems to be clearly constitutional in the current condition Chicago is in, that the populace arms themselves.
“endemic levels”?
So that’s a ‘good’ thing, right?….
First, allow the people to own and carry guns, because clearly the gun control laws are not working.
Second, go after the gangs and drug dealers, they are the main root of the gun violence problem.
Third, Stop electing gun grabbers.
Four, Instruct LE on how to deal with people that carry for self defense, don’t treat them like criminals.
this is a cultural, and moral issue. those who have jack sh!t and dont want to work for anything will continue to find ways to get what they want, regardless of the laws on the books. disarming the law abiding citizens is only furthering this problem because those who DO obey the laws arent going to break them if it means jail time for protecting themselves. take a step back and look at it from a real world perspective this is a “test tube” for what will happen to the rest of a disarmed nation. the only difference will be that the gang-members killing innocents wont be civilians anymore, they’ll be “government storm troopers”
Levels of violence that would be described as an epidemic anywhere else are merely endemic to Chicago.
Slowly build a wall up around it. A big one. Then lock the doors.
Or, hit the reboot button.
Otherwise, ‘business as usual’ (blame everyone else and cry for money and other free things) will just continue, and escalate.
I do my part by not going there.
“How can you stop the shootings?”
First of all, it is impossible to stop all violence. The best we can do is minimize it.
How do we minimize it? The primary cause of anti-social behavior (which includes shooting other people) is the breakdown of the family. Thus the primary focus should be restoring families. We also need to restore basic values — which includes a deeply held value for human life. Finally, a family AND a minimal level of prosperity gives people something to live for — and discourages behavior that risks their lives.
So there you have it: strong families, strong values, and a life worth living.
Keep in mind that there will always be “bad apples” even if we have strong families and values and prosperous lives. For those people, we need to be armed. Only armed victims discourage “bad apples” from harming good people. And when the threat of force fails to discourage them, wounding them usually picks up the slack.
They should throw more grenades.
In all seriousness, however, they should let citizens arm themselves for once. God, Cook County is uneducated.
You want to severely stop the violence today? Roll out the National Guard in force with armor. I’m not talking 200 guys, more like 30,000 with check points, vehicle searches, curfews, travel papers, etc. Have an outside entity declare marshal law and take over the city government, and here it’s really tricky as the state is about as corrupt as the city, and the feds are kissing cousins of the city gubmint so I don’t know what entity you would need to get. That buys you some peace for a few days. Is the sheriff of Cook county an honest guy? The head of the state police? I ask because the next step would be to deputize about 50,000 honest people to act as law enforcement under the control of the 37 honest cops you have in Chicago (think Untouchables) But for the long term? A whole bunch of honest, dedicated folks will have to roll up their sleeves and get to work changing 100 years of politically driven BAD policy, starting from the ground up with a totally clean slate. And with our recent record in “nation building” and lack of follow through, I see all of this having a zero chance of succeeding, because the situation is so bad, I equate this with the efforts where we tried to do the very same thing in Irag and Afghanistan. Thinking about this for a few minutes, might be easier to open a Soylent Green factory and just start processing……
I truly hope you’re being sarcastic.
It seems to me that “endemic” is the correct word.
.
If allowed, the good citizens of Chicago will cure the disease in about 2 weeks although the injection site will be painful for that time.
.
1) Remove the word ‘Racist’ from the vocabularies of every single human being in Chicago. Whilst that word exists, no-one will be able to solve this issue. Too many people throw about that word lightly. The word is practically a free pass for anyone of a minority, or even majority to get their way with anything. Someone shoots a black criminal in self-defence: “Racist!” An Asian woman is mugged by a white guy: “Racist!” It gets us nowhere.
2) Bring back the death penalty. It may not be the most ethical in the long run, and many are opposed to it’s use, but hanging a murderer by the neck will scare the bejeezus out of anyone thinking of committing a crime. Regardless of race or sex, mental health or demonic possession, if they commit a crime worthy of it, then (I suggest) hang them, and make the fact well known. Crimes that I personally deem worthy are; rape, multiple counts of homicide, extreme GBH, sexually attacking children, feel free to add, I can’t think of more.
3) State-funded gun handling classes. These should be run by former/serving military/LEOs and teach the very basics in gun handling; the 4 rules, how to operate a Glock handgun (I assume that’s what the police department’s weapon of choice is) and basic defensive techniques. It should be free for anyone to enter, and cover three classes, one team of trainees per week.
4) CHLs should be made shall issue (once class has been passed).
5) The police should cease no-knock raids and focus on protecting the streets, increased patrols and higher police presence in high-crime locales.
This is all I can think of so far, do you agree?
“So what could be/should be done to quell Chicago’s “gun violence”?”
They should stop trying to disarm the true first responders(Hint: They’re NOT the police).
I’m guessing the majority of bangers wouldn’t volunteer to rob people it those people had “buddies” that could move 1200 fps..
given that guns commit crime, find and arrest the criminal guns. assign the gun a public defender. send the gun to anger management class, bullet rehab, get it some counseling
let it stay in a halfway house. give it strict instructions to avoid associating with known criminals ( in Chicago, that’s a challenge ) put it on probation or parole.
when it has paid it’s debt to society, turn it loose on the streets, where it is very likely to offend again.
this makes as least as much sense as anything the gun control crowd will come up with.
I don’t know. I do know the first step is to stop lying about the causes. It’s amazing how they can keep parroting the same line when other cities with more lax gun laws somehow don’t have these problems.
Beats me what to do. I know I’ll be called racist by suggesting CHAIN GANGS for violent criminals. I’ve been in every single Chicago neighborhood in my time. The economy has collapsed. When you have an estimated 150000( or more) gang members you got a problem. I got nothin’…
Vote out the progressives that have transformed the citizens into prey. Vote in those who will restore the balance of nature by allowing people to defend themselves and thereby avoid personal extinction.
by putting the gang bangers down, with prejudice, but in today’s politically correct wuss environment, nobody has the balls to do it.
What can be done about Chicago’s “gun violence”? First thing, stop calling it that and instead use “gang violence”. Focus the problem on the people but it’s much easier to blame an object.
Get money into the schools, end the war on drugs, get rid of the corrupt police and Rahm, actually lock up the murderers, reinstate the 2nd amendment. There are my ideas
Are airstrikes off the table?
Build a huge wall and iron dome defense
Like Israel has
“I say we take off, and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”
I’m kidding here, of course, but I’m afraid implementing things we know works would be just as politically unlikely.
You can fix Chicago by doing two things.
1. Adopt and implement the strategy Rudy Giulani used in NYC.
. From http://www.biography.com – Giuliani set out to tackle New York’s problems with a single-mindedness that bordered on ruthlessness. In his first two years in office, his policies helped reduce serious crime by one-third and cut the city’s murder rate in half. Police shootings fell by 40 percent and incidents of violence in city jails, once a seemingly insurmountable problem, virtually disappeared by the end of his first term, dropping by 95 percent. Giuliani’s highly successful “welfare-to-work” initiative helped more than 600,000 New Yorkers land employment and achieve self-sufficiency.
2. Stop using community activist tactics.
Activism defined by Wikipedia – Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change, or stasis. The term connotes a peaceful form of conflict. Various forms of activism range from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, and hunger strikes. Research is beginning to explore how activist groups in the United States[1] and Canada are using social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action.
Any more questions?
Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s boy, knows all about community activism. After all, It was being a community organizer that really taught Obama how to be President. Anything he didn’t learn as a CO, he learned in Illinois politics where he couldn’t figure out to vote yes or no, so he voted “present” most often.
One option is to declare martial la, set a mandatory sundown curfew and arrest anyone out after dark, because they’re obviously up to no good. The other would be to start handing out CHLs like candy. I know which one I’d like to see, but I have a feeling it won’t happen.
Easy, legalize drugs. If folks can buy their grass, coke, crack or dope through the pharmacy at walgreens… poof! Nothing left to fight over in the ‘hood, no reason for turf wars, no more gang on gang fighting. (Don’t have figures, but am guessing narco-traffic probably brings in the the overwhelming majority of criminal revenue… 70-80%? Dunno. Get rid of the incentive, and “the game” goes away.)
Sounds extreme? Look at Chicago violence after (alcohol) prohibition was repealed.
It’s been working in Portugal since 2001. I worked with some Portuguese engineers once, and they did impress me as rather clever, practical people. 🙂
Swap one legal democrat for one illegal democrat at the southern border. Some time in the Mexican desert without Section 8 housing, EBT cards, Medicaid, and reception bars for their Obamaphones could be beneficial training.
1. Provide a handgun and a long gun to any law abiding citizen who wants, but can’t afford to get one.
2. Provide shall issue permits for or allow all law abiding citizens to carry handguns in public whenever they want.
3. Create a stand your ground law in order to give law abiding citizens the legal protections necessary after a self defense situation is concluded.
4. Keep careful records on the crime rates.
2.
Provide shall issue permitsEstablish Constitutional Carry foror allowall law abiding citizens to carry handguns in public whenever they want.Fixed It For You. 🙂
Ok here is a tidbit. When a gang banger is arrested for say drug sales and is ILLEGALLY in possession of a firearm (90% of the time it is STOLEN), two crimes have been committed, 1 possession with intent to distribute and felony use of a firearm while committing a crime. The drug possession gets very varied sentencing from a slap on the wrist to hard time depending on the amount (5 years or more). The gun charges in most states have MANDATORY minimum sentencing STARTING at 5 years up to life just for the possession of the gun. 90% of the gun charges are pled down to a FAR lower felony if not, misdemeanor. And the criminal is charged with drug possession and a minimum sentence sometimes getting as little as time served while awaiting trial. At least 50% of these criminals are REPEAT offenders and up to 70% have committed these crimes WITH a gun. Instead of depriving me of my ability to defend myself why not help solve the problem by punishing the criminal instead of the rest of society.
Keeping in mind that Chicago’s crime statistics- in the form of Illinois’- are not accepted by the FBI for the Uniform Crime Report because they’re basically worthless, here’s the three big things:
The criminal justice system is broken, badly. Prison is less feared by bangers than bangers.
The Chicago Police Department, as brave and dedicated as so many of them are, are far too few to cover the territory involved with anything approaching a deterrent effect. 911 calls frequently result in 3+ hour wait times; some aren’t responded to at all.
And the gangs are tied to the Outfit (as it’s called here) which is tied to the Unions which are tied to the Machine (meaning the politicians holding office and the senior employees of the government). Not many of these people are interested in interfering with the system.
The shortest answer is increase the size of the CPD by at least a third, but the other two parts still will obstruct the work of the street officers and detectives.
Honestly, not many locals in the metropolitan area hold out much hope for a cure, or even relief. It’s that bad.
Even more than allowing citizens to tool up, a shift in culture would reduce the problem. The violence is almost exclusively gang-related, so you’ve gotta cut the problem at the root. On the other hand, if you get a high rate of concealed carry (say, 80%+), gangs will vanish because their members will be ventilated every day.
More gun laws. That oughta do it.
Yeah, that’s it! make them more illegaler! Drugs, too! And Boom boxes! And droopy pants!
How about we work to put every citizen to work at a job paying a decent wage that they can live on? Providing a path out of poverty is the surest way to reduce gun violence.
I saw above that Chicago politicians blame surrounding cities and states for their gun violence problem. Well I blame Chicago’s inability to properly control their gangs and other criminals for Indianapolis’s mostly gang and drug related homicide rate.
I once asked the chief of police of my small 8,000 person town where most of the crime occurs. He told me that 95 percent of it occurs in or involves someone from the HUD housing apartments in the town.
Chicago is the Midwest’s HUD housing.
1. End the failed “War on (Some) Drugs”.
2. Federal anti-corruption task force.
3. Repeal Chicago’s gun laws.
4. Keep violent criminals IN their goddamn cages for their ENTIRE SENTENCE, and finally quit all this “catch-and-release” bullshit.
There isn’t going to be a “stop” to the shootings. Not now, not ever. The least we could do is to stop making more victims by illegally hamstringing the law-abiding.
What Should Chicago Do to Reduce “Gun Violence”?
Chicago should offer courses in knife fighting skills, stressing the fact that knives are quiet and just as deadly at close range as a weapon. They could start an advertising campaign promoting knife use in crimes… “The Most Interesting Man in the World says, ‘I don’t always murder shopkeepers, but when I do, I use a knife…'”. Finally they could provide high quality spring-loaded fighting knives to anybody who wants one.
The rate of knife-related murders would skyrocket, of course. But the number of gun-related murders would probably fall a little bit, which is all that matters…
1. As others have said, end the war on drugs. It just puts money in the pockets of criminals.
2. Give citizens their rights back.
3. Bring back police foot patrols to all parts of the city. Walk around in tac teams if you have to, but make it happen.
4. Fix, fully fund, secure, and improve the school systems (i.e. provide things that the community actually needs like longer hours so that parents can do full work days, provide low or no-cost meals for all kids with REAL food as opposed to the crap they normally serve, raise teacher salaries while making positions competitive, etc.)
#4 is super important. If you don’t give kids a legitimate, supportive, safe option other than the gangs, this is never going to end.
Pass another gun law.
Build a wall around it. Chicago is a lost cause.
The guns might come from outside the city, but the murderers don’t. The problem starts at home. I’ll bet these gang bangers are home grown and terrorizing their own neighborhoods. Whose fault is it ? I say start by looking at the parents.
The guns MUST originate from out of the city as there is not one gun shop in Chicago.
Try examining the real causes of violence instead of the smokescreen of guns are the problem. What kind of job are the police doing and what have the politicians done in the last 75 years that have caused these current conditions?
Just stop calling it “gun violence.” Call it something like “gang violence” or “criminal activity.” See? Problem solved.
The simplest, most effective and least costly way to reduce “gun violence” is to enforce existing federal laws about the possession or use of a firearm by previously convicted felons. Why the federal government doesn’t do this is a mystery as it has been shown to be effective in cities like RIchmond, VA. It’s impossible to take politicians seriously about reducing crime until they demonstrate they are prepared to enforce existing laws!
There are things we could do as a nation to improve the inner city crime problems in this country.
Sadly, frank, honest and productive discussion of how to clean up the problems created by the Great Society programs won’t go anywhere in the current political environment. People look at cities like Chicago, Detroit, et al and have to objectively conclude that modern American liberal social policy is an utter failure. Four generations of people have grown up in dependency, many people are dead, children have been consigned to ignorance and we US taxpayers have poured upwards of $5 trillion dollars since the late 60’s into social programs that have done nothing positive in terms of net:net results.
Could something be done to stop the gang problems and deaths? Sure. Will anything? No, because to do so would require liberals admit that their ideas, their policies are failures. Like the doctrinaire communists of the depth of the cold war, they will refuse to admit they’re wrong and they will ride their policies down into the ground, pointing their quavering fingers of blame at everyone and everything else. They will claim that they had “the right ideas,” but there were “problems of implementation,” the “opposition corrupted our legislation,” and “the people were too stupid to understand the sacrifices needed.”
This is a breakdown of common family values. Deploy the national guard. Put curfews in place. Build community programs that give these people a way out to stop the cycle. Hold parents responsible for their kids. Quit making excuses.
Gangs run that town, regardless of it being organized or not, or public or private sector. You’d also have to get some actual law enforcement that would cover the whole town, and then do more than just keep up with the status quo. I don’t think you could ever do anything about the political culture in that town, it’s become tradition. We could also do something about the (pseudo-legal?!) trafficking of the drugs and guns coming up from Mexico, so that our government can play spy vs spy in the cartel wars. That won’t ever happen either.
OK, I will play the numbers game and believe that we are in Bizzaro World and that the following statement is correct.
” Forty three percent of guns seized in the Chicagoland area were purchased elsewhere in the state, while most of the remaining guns were brought to the city from out of state.”
Can you explain what you mean by “purchased”?
How do you know they were purchased?
Did the the seizured guns come with receipts?
Was the possessor the legal buyer?
Was the gun stolen?
How do you know where they came from?
Can you read the serial numbers or are they non-existent anymore?
Mr. Peck leaves waaaay too much off the table.
Wait? Wasn’t Mr. Peck on the A-Team? Dammit! There goes my whole argument!
Actually, Templeton Peck was the character in the A-Team yes 🙂
Sorry if I’m repeating (I’ve not read the 100+ comments), but if I recall correctly from “More Guns, Less Crime”, the universal solution is two-fold:
1) Allow and encourage law-abiding citizens to arm themselves in public
2) Stiffer, enforced penalties for violent criminals
Chicago does exactly the opposite. Only criminals have guns, and 3/4 of those criminals are never prosecuted.
Yea likely because Chicago government is so freaking corrupt it’s unreal. They want to protect the criminals, otherwise, they wouldn’t.
You wanted the guns gone, well indeed you have done so. That was the problem right guns? So now its the surrounding towns and states, but oh wait no other city or state surrounding has an issue like this. Weird, there are many ways to solve your problem. But you have to keep an open mind you can’t do this in a day.
First your going to need a list of top gang members, ILLEGAL arms dealers, and drug dealers. Your also going to need to know the ins and out’s of these people where they live who they work with who they work for. Just like there is no true boss everyone has to answer to somebody. Because I highly doubt that the guns the criminal’s use are built in Chicago and same with the drugs and gangs.
Next your going to need to infultrate said criminals lives be among them, find out what they are doing why and for who. If you want to go after the big big bosses like Cartels and stuff thats on you I would work on just saving the city first.
Once you have these guys don’t kill them DESTROY them. Take out the buildings that have all the guns and drugs. Take out every delivery. You can do it legally but finding a warrent for all that everyday sounds a little too good to be true.
After you’ve taken everything from them business wise, take away their personal stuff. That should be easy its illegal to buy cars and houses and anything with criminal orginizations money. I dont know the exact law but its illegal plus all those taxes they never did, I know that you have to tell the government of every dollar you earned or thats now the IRS you get to have fun with. oh and RICO is deffinatley still a thing.
Now that you destroyed there business their families lives and their life arrest them to the lowest whole in the ground because any communication with the outside world means they can still run it.
Bravo! After all, If the cartel’s etc want to go after you, they wont always just go after you directly, they’ll go after your family first. Even your extended family and friends become possible targets.
You already have laws on the books saying that you can confiscate items seized in a drug bust of any kind, USE IT. Seize bank accounts, houses, businesses, buildings, weapons, cash, cars, trucks, the whole nine yards as they say. Expand that to violent gangs too. Seeing as a lot of them are into drugs anyway.
Even if you have to use the National Guard to do it, at least temporarily, or on higher grade targets.
Stop harassing the law abiding gun owners of this country that want guns to protect themselves with, or hunt with, or do target matches with. Leave them alone and go after the targets that actually can make a difference. Then and only then will you EVER have a handle on gun violence and crime in this country.
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