Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) is seeking help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) in the face of surging homicides and continued gun crime.
On December 17, 2021, Breitbart News reported that Chicago had surpassed 800 homicides for the year.
HeyJackass.com now notes the city has exceeded 830 homicides and there is still over a week to go in 2021.
Of the 830+ homicides, over 780 were carried out with firearms.
Breitbart News observed that 23 people were shot during the past weekend alone in Lightfoot’s Chicago, while over 30 were shot, six fatally, during the first weekend in December, and nearly 40 were shot Thursday through Sunday morning of Thanksgiving weekend.
Lightfoot is seeking federal help to curb the violence.
On Monday, NBC 5 reported that “Lightfoot formally requested that United States Attorney General Merrick Garland detail Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in Chicago for six months.”
NBC 5 pointed to a Chicago Sun-Times report showing “murders have been increasing in the city for two straight years now, and shootings have been rising at an even faster rate.”
On July 26, 2020, Breitbart News noted Lightfoot rejected President Trump’s offer to send federal help into Chicago to get surging crime under control.
Lightfoot told CNN”s State of Union:
I have drawn a very hard line. We’ll not allow federal troops in our city. We will not tolerate unnamed agents taking people off the street, violating their rights and holding them in custody. That’s not happening here in Chicago. So I have drawn a very, very tight line and made it clear to every federal authority that I’ve spoken with, and they understand that if they cross that line, we will not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal to stop troops and unwanted agents in our city.
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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.