Free Republic

Harold Pollack, one of the study Authors A paper on where and how criminals obtain guns has been published in "Preventive Medicine" a rather peculiar place to publish a paper on the criminology of gun use.  Other than the apparent desire to medicalize crime that involves guns, the paper is reasonably well done, with some good information that reinforces much of what we already knew.   A minor complaint is that the authors seem nearly as ignorant about guns as the criminals that they interview.  They use the terms "assault weapon" and "machine pistol" without any definition, and little knowledge. ...

Is Mayor Rahm Emanuel preparing to exempt some homeowners from his big new property tax? A series of fascinating signals is emanating from City Hall that suggest, to ease passage of his $500 million plan through the City Council, the mayor indeed is preparing a plan—being dubbed internally the "bungalow belt exemption"—to give a break to owners of middle-income residences. No figures are available as to exactly who would be covered. The Emanuel administration is in high message-control mode since word of the pending tax hike leaked out earlier in the week, with the mayor apparently trying to float ideas...

Chicago has some of the toughest gun-control laws in the country. It also has a new record for shooting deaths in a single day. The Windy City had nine shooting deaths on Wednesday — its highest rate of single-day fatalities in over a decade. On July 5, 2003, there were 10 homicides in the city. The Chicago Tribune did an extensive analysis of its records before reporting Wednesday’s grim milestone.

A teen in a park on the West Side. Two men in their 30s in Uptown on the North Side. A woman in her 20s in the South Side's Morgan Park neighborhood. Chicago's most recent spasm of violence touched all corners of the city. On Wednesday alone, eight people were shot to death in homicides. A ninth victim — an 11-year-old boy — died of an apparent accidental shooting. That marked the most homicides in a single day in Chicago in more than a decade, according to a Tribune analysis of department data. The worst previous day occurred July 5,...

At least 12 people have died and 13 others have been wounded in separate shootings in Chicago between late Tuesday and early Thursday, including the accidental shooting of an 11-year-old boy, police said..

It certainly appeared to have been a premeditated, pre-planned disruption of a routine flight, perhaps designed to test responses or as a larger plot to intimidate and thereby garner privileges or concessions. It’s not likely that the six despicable individuals involved all just happened to find each other as members of the same Arab soccer team, although they certainly do deserve each other’s company. A Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego to Chicago was rerouted to Amarillo late Monday, with six passengers removed and subsequently arrested on charges of “interference with a flight crew and abetting.” FBI special agent T....

As the manhunt for three men suspected of killing Fox Lake police Lt Charles Joseph Gliniewicz moved into its third day, Lake County authorities announced Thursday that "significant" home security video has been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said a resident provided police the raw video Wednesday night. Although local authorities have not been able to review the tape with the proper equipment, Filenko said the homeowner told investigators that three individuals matching police's limited description can be seen.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to call for the largest property tax increase in modern Chicago history to raise enough money to make a major pension payment for police and firefighters next year, the mayor's City Council floor leader and a City Hall source told the Chicago Tribune late Wednesday.. The mayor also plans to push a new garbage collection tax, a new per-ride fee on taxis and ride-hailing services such as Uber and a new tax on electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. ....The property tax increase Emanuel is mulling would far exceed what the mayor himself said during...

A massive manhunt is underway in a suburb north of Chicago after a police officer was shot dead while on a routine patrol. Three armed and dangerous suspects, two white and one black, are at large after the cop was gunned down in Fox Lake, Illinois, at around 8am. Authorities confirmed the officer died at the scene. WGNTV says he was shot in the head. The cop, who is yet to be identified but is reportedly a 32-year veteran of the department, was found in a marshy area stripped of his gun and other equipment. FBI and US Marshals are...

A recent study that was conducted by the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab has learned that Chicago criminals do not acquire their guns from gun shops, gun shows or the internet. The study examined and interviewed inmates in Chicago’s Cook County Jail who are either facing current gun charges, or have a background consisting of firearms related convictions. The study learned that virtually zero criminals have ever used the internet or gun shows, because that method is easily traceable. It’s much safer for a criminal to acquire firearms on the streets where they’re harder to keep track of, and that’s...

Officer dies, manhunt for 3 armed suspects in Fox Lake Posted 9:16 AM, September 1, 2015, by WGN Web Desk, Updated at 12:08pm, September 1, 2015 FOX LAKE, Ill. -- A manhunt is underway for three armed suspects after a Fox Lake police officer was fatally shot in the head Tuesday morning, sources tell WGN. At a brief news conference Tuesday, authorities said they were searching for two white men and one black man. A large perimeter has been set up and multiple helicopters and K9s units are searching the area. Police will not confirm the officer has died, only...

Police from many surrounding communities are searching the area near Sayton Road in Fox Lake. Some media agencies are reporting that an officer was shot. Police scanner traffic indicates police from Antioch, Ingleside, Lake County and Fox Lake and Grayslake are searching an area along Rollins Road near Route 59 and Route 12. Several K-9 units, helicopters and appear officers to be searching near the Fox Lake Metra station, as well. Grant Community High School in Fox Lake is on lock down. There are some. Police scanner reports indicate that officers are searching for a white male, a black male...

For years, in spite of the fact that the word “criminal” implies otherwise, I’d always figured that America’s criminals were people who abided by the law of the land and purchased their firearms legally through the proper channels. Imagine, then, my utter shock upon reading a just-released study from the University of Chicago Crime Lab, in which the vast majority of the city’s multitudinous gun-toting felons said they bought their firearms (or “gats,” in the parlance of our time) on the street as opposed to through legal means. Yes, it seems that news of Chicago’s strict gun control ordinances apparently haven’t reached the residents of...

As for specifics regarding sources for purchasing guns, some of the inmates indicated that gangs have individuals with a Firearm Owners Identification Card who buy guns then sell them to gang members. Others indicated using “corrupt cops” who seize guns then “put them back on the street.” The inmates made clear they do not walk into gun stores to buy guns. Which proves a point Breitbart News, Gun Owners of America, and other gun rights groups have made for years; namely, that background checks place a burden on law-abiding citizens which criminals easily avoid.

Despite the best efforts of the Brady Campaign and Michael Bloomberg's Everytown, a small group in suburban Chicago has managed to break new ground in gun control stupidity. The achievement took place August 25th at a rally protesting a new Mariano's grocery store in Northbrook, Ill. organized by Peaceful Communities. The company's offense? Not forbidding licensed carry inside their suburban locations. While a small protest for a silly cause is standard gun control fare, this one featured items of special significance. The protestors held signs during the event, several of which stated "SIGNS SAVE LIVES." By that logic, the roughly...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Big-time Illinois Lottery winners aren't getting the largesse. They're getting left out. Without a state budget agreement two months into the new fiscal year, there's no authority for the state comptroller to cut checks over $25,000. That means smaller winnings can be paid out, but not the larger lottery wins. Susan Rick, who lives in Oglesby, Illinois, planned home fix-ups and a visit to her daughter after her boyfriend won $250,000 last month. But they were told to wait. Rick tells the Chicago Tribune that if the situation were reversed, the state would "come take it,...

Two years after Illinois’ concealed-carry law went into effect, it’s time we took a hard look at whether people who are a danger to themselves or others are getting permits to carry hidden weapons. Under the law, even people who been arrested for violence are eligible to carry concealed weapons. The law leaves it up to local police to object if someone who shouldn’t be packing heat applies for a permit. But that extra safeguard apparently is not protecting us the way it should, at least in Cook County, whose residents account for about a quarter of the state’s concealed-carry...

A man was shot to death in the South Side Kenwood neighborhood Tuesday evening, only about two blocks from President Barack Obama’s home. Reginald Sanson, 25, was in a vehicle about 6 p.m. when another vehicle approached and someone inside fired shots, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The NFL's meandering road back to the nation's second-largest market wound through Chicago on Tuesday, with team owners hearing the competing Los Angeles stadium pitches for the first time. A league that goes to great lengths to avoid pitting owner against owner — revenue sharing, salary cap, and cross-ownership rules that preclude owners from fighting over the sports dollar in the same cities — is now bracing for a clash of the titans. "I guess you could use the metaphor of musical chairs, and there's a bit of that going on," said Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants...

The manufacturer of Oreo cookies recently announced plans to move production of Oreos from Chicago to Mexico, resulting in a loss of 600 U.S. jobs.This should be a wake-up call to defenders of the U.S. sugar program and other job-destroying trade barriers.The leading ingredient in Oreos is sugar, and U.S. trade barriers currently require Americans to pay twice the average world prices for sugar.Sugar-using industries now have a big incentive to relocate from the United States to countries where access to their primary ingredient is not restricted.If the government wants people making Oreo cookies and similar products to keep their...