Another bloody weekend in Chicago with nine people reportedly killed and 54 others wounded, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and instead of calling for more gun control, is it time for the authorities to simply declare martial law in the Windy City and cleaning the thugs out?
According to “DNA Info.com,” more than 430 people have been slain so far this year in Chicago. That’s more than all of the people murdered so far in some states. Indeed, that’s more than the combined total of homicides involving firearms in both Washington and Oregon in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. The 2016 report will not be released until next month.
In 2015, according to FBI data, Oregon experienced 71 murders of which 34 involved firearms. That same year, Washington logged 209 homicides, which included 141 that involved guns.
Yet, the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility says there is a “gun violence epidemic” in the Evergreen State, a claim echoed in a recent Seattle Times editorial that supported the state Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld the Seattle “gun violence tax.” Compared to Chicago, Seattle and surrounding King County are remarkably peaceful, although reported shooting incidents are up this year.
Coincidentally, both Seattle and Cook County, Illinois, which encompasses Chicago, are the only two jurisdictions in the country to have so far adopted such a “gun violence tax.”
The carnage was so bad over the weekend that even Seattle’s KOMO ran a story on it Monday.
What’s to be done about the violence? Chicago doesn’t have a gun problem, it has a gang problem, according to some observers. The city already has some tough gun laws, and Illinois was last in line to adopt a concealed carry statute, and then only after the state had been dragged kicking and screaming to take action, courtesy a pair of federal lawsuits filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association.
The Sun-Times, which publishes a “Homicide Watch” column, reported that the weekend included one “mass shooting” in which seven people were hit including one killed on the city’s far south side.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump hinted that he would send in the feds, and there has been increased attention from federal officers. However, the situation in Chicago appears to be completely out of control.
If the murder rate continues, the year could wind up just like 2016, with more than 700 dead in a city that has fought hard to keep its law-abiding residents disarmed.
