At least 63 individuals were shot and eight were killed over the weekend in gun-controlled Chicago.
According to the Chicago Tribune, over half the shootings occurred within “13 hours from Saturday to early Sunday.” This was followed by the shooting of 16 people during the day on Sunday, and three of the victims were shot on the same street—South Austin.
The weekend violence brings gun-controlled Chicago’s homicides to 451 for the year, which is only 16 homicides short of where Chicago was this time last year. Chicago ended 2016 with nearly 800 homicides and roughly 4,400 total shooting victims.
The weekend violence also makes August 18-20 second only to the Fourth of July weekend for bloodshed and mayhem this year. Breitbart News reported more than 100 people were shot over the Fourth of July weekend and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that 36 of those victims “[were] shot across the city in an 8-hour span of violence between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday.” Six of the victims shot during that eight-hour span lost their lives.
To date, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s (D) response to the violence and death has been to push for more gun control and to fight concealed carry for law-abiding citizens. On April 25, 2017, the Washington Times reported that Emanuel was pushing more regulations for Federal Firearm License holders (FFLs). These FFLs are gun store owners or operators who go through a lengthy background check process to acquire a license from the federal government allowing them to sell guns. In turn, they are required to conduct a background check on every gun they sell. By targeting them, Emanuel makes it appear that criminals are walking into brick and mortar gun stores to buy their weapons.
Amid Chicago’s gun crime epidemic, Emanuel is also fighting against national reciprocity for concealed carry. Although national reciprocity would allow law-abiding citizens to be armed for self-defense in more places, Emanuel opposes it because he worries it would erode local gun controls.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.