Below is a sad reminder of the failure of gun control policies.
ABC 7 Chicago reported in 2014 Fourth of July holiday weekend, 82 people were shot, 15 fatally, in the Windy City over the weekend and the majority of gunmen “shouldn’t have [even] been on the street” to due to their criminal records, much less in possession of a firearm.
ABC 7 reported that Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy read of list of known gunmen involved in the holiday mayhem and paused from time to time to say, “He shouldn’t have been on the street.”
McCarthy made clear that an untold number of guns are in the possession of gang members who aren’t supposed to have them, but those “gang members will not surrender themselves or their weapons when pursued by police because they fear repercussions from their leaders.”
Because of this, McCarthy explained, five of the shootings over the Fourth of July weekend were police shooting at individuals who refused to drop their weapons. Two persons were killed by police in such scenarios.
Besides the large number of those barred from gun possession because of a criminal record, those barred from gun possession because they don’t meet the legal minimum age requirement constitute a majority of shooters in Chicago. ABC 7 cited a 2011 Chicago police analysis showing “the most common ages of killers are 17 and 18 years old.”
According to the Illinois State Police, the exception for persons under 21 to be in possession of a firearm is for them to be “unemancipated minors while in the custody and immediate control of their parent or legal guardian and the parent or legal guardian currently has a valid FOID card.”
Persons 21 or older, “who [are] otherwise eligible to obtain a FOID card,” are only to be in possession of a firearm if “under the direct supervision of a FOID card holder who is 21 years of age or older while the person is on a firing or shooting range or is a participant in a firearms safety and training course recognized by a law enforcement agency or a national, statewide shooting sports organization.”
Suffice it to say, these exceptions do not cover the Chicago gunmen for whom “the most common ages are 17 and 18 years old.”
Moreover, they do not cover the 14-year-old shot and killed by Chicago Police “just before 10 p.m. in the 3800 block of North Cicero” on the 4th of July. The 14-year-old allegedly pointed a 44-magnum revolver at an officer prior to being shot.
The 14-year-old had been reported missing two weeks ago. A relative said “the family was increasingly concerned about the crowd [the boy] was running with.”
Twenty-one shootings were reported on that Sunday alone.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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