I had friends come to stay with me over the holiday weekend, and normally, when you welcome guests into your home, you go over some of the basics. Here are the clean towels, here’s the extra toothbrush, don’t let the dog out, etc. In Chicago, though, we the few brave residents, have to field a variety of questions about our relationship to the wave of gun violence sweeping the city: no, we’re nowhere near the gangbangers, please don’t arm yourself with an automatic weapon, don’t wander the city after midnight, and there’s only a 17% chance you’ll die even if you do get shot, because its mostly teenagers and their aim is terrible.
Nothing to worry about. Have a mojito.
This weekend, we actually had an improvement over last year: only 47 wounded! Only 16 dead! We’re doing so well.
Chicago was yet again riddled with a flurry of shootings this Fourth of July weekend, with at least 47 wounded and nine killed, according to multiple media reports.
The numbers were down from last year’s holiday weekend after police increased their presence by nearly a third — 2014 saw over 80 shootings with 16 fatalities. Police also seized more than 80 illegal guns over the holiday, averaging around one per hour, DNA Info reported.
Some 3,400 illegal guns have been confiscated so far this year, according to the city’s police department.
What the story fails to note is that all guns are illegal, except for a very small number of guns held by people willing to negotiate the city and state’s massive pile of paperwork. If they confiscated 80, that’s barely anything. But I suppose its a start.
Their bigger problem seems to be a revolving door on gun charges. Even though Chicago has, supposedly, the strictest gun control laws in the country, charges on the matter don’t seem to stick, or result in shorter prison times, if any prison time at all. At least one of the people picked up this week was on his second gun charge. Strangely, despite the tough talk from the mayor and others on the subject of guns, even the laws they have aren’t effectively managed.
At any rate, Chicago, despite having a calmer Independence Day than usual is still on track to beat our record 1300 shootings last year. So it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
