Chicagoist magazine reported that the city reached a miserable milestone in May: 1,000 residents had been wounded or killed by criminals with guns, well ahead of last year’s pace.
Chicago recorded 133 homicides in mid-May, up from 114 during the same time period in 2014. And the violence continues unabated—as of June 1, 1,050 residents had been shot and wounded. The latest weekend’s toll was 33 wounded, five killed.
Meanwhile, Jesse Jackson and Rev. Michael Pfleger fell back on an old media tactic: They squalled shamelessly at a gun store. Anyone honestly trying to reverse this drastic decline must acknowledge that efforts to impose gun control upon lawful citizens waste resources that could be better spent providing relief to the suffering. Chicagoans deserve better than leaders who fail to protect them but won’t allow them to protect themselves.
