President Joe Biden offered to send a “strike force” into Chicago Thursday in order to help Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) stem the tide of shootings occurring daily in the city.
ABC 7 reports that a “strike force” would focus on gun trafficking.
Lightfoot responded to Biden’s offer by saying, “My hope and expectation is that they’re going to be coming relatively soon. I’ve made not secret of the fact that this is a matter of incredible urgency and I think the president’s plan is to make a difference in localities like Chicago this summer.”
On July 7, 2021, the Chicago Tribune noted that the city has witnessed 2,021 shooting victims this year. That figure represents victims in fatal and non-fatal incidents combined.
The Tribune maintains a second table of data focused solely on homicides, and it shows that 364 have been killed in Chicago so far this year.
Chicago, like all of Illinois, has a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases, a red flag law, and a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card requirement for would-be gun purchasers. The process for acquiring a FOID card involves a background check.
Moreover, Cook County, the county in Chicago is located, has an “assault weapons” ban.
Yet gun crime in Chicago continues to rage.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.