Memorial Day weekend in Chicago was appallingly violent: 43 citizens were shot, and nine of them killed. Chicago’s shootings are up a staggering 40 percent over this time last year, and homicides are up 29 percent.
How will Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel respond to this murderous surge? At a luncheon honoring police, Emanuel pronounced, “It is not just about how many police you have, it is about the quantity of guns that are on the street so we actually have gun laws that back up the men and women we just recognized.”
Emanuel knows that, despite losing in the U.S. Supreme Court, Chicago still severely restricts gun ownership. He also knows that his police are so overwhelmed that the FBI, DEA, ATF and the U.S. Marshals Service had to send agents in 2012.
Blaming gun laws can’t hide the fact that, sometimes, it is about how many police you have.
