After the 82 shootings in which 14 were killed during the weekend of July 4, Chicago has settled back down to its usual rate of nearly 30 shot and 3 killed this weekend. However, there was also a riot on one of Chicago’s public Lake Michigan beaches which injured four policemen.
Chicago has been averaging some 20 shot and up to 3 deaths each weekend since the cold winter weather broke, but the long Independence Day holiday was a bloodbath with 82 shot and 14 killed.
Last weekend Chicago may be ruefully grateful to have fallen back closer to its usual statistics with 28 shot and three deaths. As usual, the most shootings occurred between late Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning.
Along with the usual rash of weekend shootings, a riot broke out on one of the City’s public beaches on Lake Michigan. A large crowd of over 100 people erupted in a brawl in which four police officers were injured and squad cars were damaged.
Ten people were arrested in the fight, which started when Chicago police on bicycles waded into the crowd to stop several bands from playing because the bands lacked city permits. When police tried to arrest a man who was reportedly armed, the crowd began to throw bottles and other objects at police. The assaults quickly erupted in a riotous attack.
The brawl quickly grew, forcing police to retreat and call for reinforcements.
“Everybody got serious, throwing bottles, throwing beer. It was horrible,” said 18-year-old Jasmine Mejias. “Once everybody spread out, they started throwing huge liquor bottles, cans… a lot of people got hit.”
Relations between police and citizens are still not optimal in the city. In an effort to make relations better, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently unblocked citizen complaints against cops and decided that complaints will now be open for public scrutiny instead of locked away behind closed doors like they once were. The police department, however, is unhappy with this policy change.
Ultimately, Chicago and Illinois politicians have no solutions. The only solution liberal Illinois politicians ever seem to come up with is to call for more and more gun restrictions. Illinois Democrat Governor Pat Quinn was once again on the stump demanding that the Second Amendment rights of Illinoisans be restricted.
However, this drive to cancel the Second Amendment never seems to ask why gun violence isn’t as bad elsewhere as it is in Chicago, even as other states and cities often have looser gun laws. Chicago’s gang problem is far more the issue than guns.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.