The Chicago Sun Times reported Monday that murders are up and arrests are down in the Windy City this year, and with the clock winding down on 2016, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson says the problem is “gun violence.”
Over the Christmas weekend, peace on earth was in short supply in Chicago as 11 men were killed and between 32 and 37 others were wounded in shooting incidents, according to the newspaper and WBBM News. That beats out last year when 30 people were shot over the Christmas holiday weekend, six fatally.
While the number of murders is up, the Sun Times noted that arrests are down significantly from 2015. The newspaper estimated that police are on pace to hit 50,000 arrests this year. Last year, cops collared more than 69,000 suspects.
Johnson told the Sun Times that officers in the city have seized nearly 3,900 “illegal” firearms. That, according to the story, is the most guns confiscated in a single year by Chicago’s finest since 2012.
What never seems to get mentioned is the number of shooting suspects who have Illinois Firearm Owner Identification Cards or concealed carry permits. Likewise, there is no mention about membership in gun rights organizations. Perhaps the numbers would all be zero.
Something else the newspaper reported is that this year’s arrest total is “less than half what it was in 2010, the year before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office.”
Some may think Chicago has become the municipal whipping boy for gun rights activists. Perhaps, but the flip side of that coin is that Chicago has fought stubbornly and bitterly since the 2010 McDonald Supreme Court ruling to comply with that decision at the bare minimum.
The Second Amendment Foundation has been back to court against the city after winning that 2010 case before the Supreme Court.
The irony is overwhelming, but so is the body count.
