Chicago: Where Criminals No Longer Fear the Police

Tuesday, reporters Mark Konkol and Frank Main examined the violent incidents that occurred over a single weekend in Chicago two years ago. During that 59-hour period, from April 18 -20, 2008, forty people were shot in the city, seven of them fatally. Stop and consider that for a moment: one city, one weekend, seven people murdered, and 33 others shot but still alive.

As horrifying as those numbers are, they are far from the most disturbing revelation in the Sun-Times series. You might assume that such an extraordinary outbreak of carnage would have aroused the citizenry in Chicago to demand swift action from their police, prosecutors, and elected officials to see to it that those responsible for the violence were brought to justice. You might assume so, that is, if you don’t live in Chicago.

As it happens, not a single suspect in any of those shootings has been convicted of a crime.

And so it should surprise no one that in a city where there is little risk of consequences for shooting and even killing someone, people tend to be shot and killed with greater frequency than elsewhere. Chicago’s murder rate, i.e., the number of murders per 100,000 residents, is twice that of Los Angeles and almost three times that of New York. Comparisons among the three cities’ statistics for robberies and aggravated assaults are similarly lopsided. (Chicagoans might find some comfort in the knowledge that the murder rate in Detroit is almost twice as high as theirs, and New Orleans’s is more than three times as high.)

Gun control in towns like Chicago means controlling the average citizens' right to fight back. The more gun control,  the more crime. And of course lets not forget the ever so frightened constabulary that is, seemingly, even more afraid of honest men with guns than criminals.

They can't handle the heat, refuse to "allow" their people to help by protecting themselves and their families and property, and have been painted into a messy corner.

Couldn't happen to a better city.

Last one out of Chicago please don't forget to turn out the lights.  Gotta stay green dontcha know.


And thanks to Of Arms and the Law for the link.