So Long, Mayor Lightfoot

by
posted on March 3, 2023
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
Lori Lightfoot
Nam Y. Huh/AP

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) lost her bid for reelection Tuesday after receiving only 17% of the vote, placing her third out of all the candidates.

Her tenure was marked by numerous anti-Second Amendment actions, a sharp uptick in crime and her “protection for me, but not for thee” attitude toward her constituency.

Under her leadership, crime has risen 52% since 2022 and over 100% since 2021. When Chicago voters were polled earlier this year about how safe they felt, more than half said “not too safe” (28%) or “not safe” (33%). Only four percent replied they felt “very safe.”

So, what has Mayor Lightfoot done to address crime? She has blamed guns, over and over.

In 2021, after multiple Chicago officers were shot—one fatally—during a routine traffic stop, Lightfoot blamed guns, rather than the criminals who committed the heinous, cold-blooded attack.

In 2020, she claimed a rise in violence was the fault of cities and jurisdictions around Chicago rather than the city she governs.

“We are being inundated with guns from states that have virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons—that is hurting cities like Chicago,” said Lightfoot

“We have a common enemy: it’s guns & the violence they bring,” tweeted Lightfoot, failing to mention anything about criminals or the fact that Chicago—as well as Illinois—has some of the strictest gun-control laws in the nation.

The soon-to-be-former Chicago mayor also eliminated over 600 vacant jobs from Chicago’s police department rather than filling them—in spite of some describing police staffing as “unsustainably low”—while also enjoying armed security, including “a special police security detail of approximately 71 officers, in addition to the mayor’s existing ‘separate personal bodyguard detail’ of 20 officers.”

“It seems Lightfoot, however, is more interested in scoring political points by promoting anti-gun policies embraced by the far left, rather than considering strategies that will actually help the citizens of her city,” reported the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

The race to be Chicago’s mayor will now head to a runoff election, which will take place on April 4. The remaining candidates are Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who received roughly 33% and 20% of the vote, respectively.

So long, Mayor Lightfoot.

Latest

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith

The Greatest Second Amendment Victory in a Century

On July 4, 2025, Americans celebrated not only our nation’s independence, but also the restoration of our constitutional Second Amendment rights becoming unconstrained by burdensome and arbitrary fees.

Opening Salvo | More Evidence That Gun-Control Groups are Freaking Out

With the Trump administration’s law-and-order push showing America’s crime problem is clearly not the fault of lawfully armed citizens, gun-control groups are freaking out.

John Rich has a Song for Armed Citizens

John Rich's latest song is "The Righteous Hunter." It is a moving tune about standing up to stop those with evil intentions. It is a song for lawfully armed citizens.

This Department of Education Grant Could Change Things

The University of Wyoming’s Firearms Research Center has been awarded a nearly $1 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education to develop a nationwide program on the origins, meaning and implications of the Second Amendment.

From the Editor | Charlie Kirk Lived for Freedom

“Give me liberty, or give me death,” are the immortal words of Patrick Henry spoken on March 23, 1775, to the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, Va. His impassioned words were a call to arms against British tyranny.  

Ninth Circuit to Revisit Background Checks on Ammo Case

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted rehearing en banc in Rhode v. Bonta—a case backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association. 

Interests



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.