It’s been a grim beginning to 2017 for the Windy City. The Chicago Police Department report 51 people murdered and another 299 shot thus far—both numbers representing an increase over last year. Half of the murders are isolated in three districts on the south and west sides.
And while many, including Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., would love for you to believe that the NRA is somehow culpable for the city’s out-of-control crime, the reality is that for every 100 guns police seized, just one criminal was prosecuted. It’s no wonder that Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has complained, “We just don’t have a deterrent to pick up a gun.”
With plans to hire up to 1,000 more police officers by year’s end, here’s hoping that the city turns from gun control to criminal control—and that the judicial system will step up and enforce the laws mandating that violent offenders serve the time for their crimes.
