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Posted on 07/28/2020 7:44:18 AM PDT by SJackson
Politicians blame out-of-state sellers, but the real problem lies at home.
The tragically incompetent mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union this weekend to deflect attention from the horror show unfolding in her city by blaming interlopers for its spiking murder rate: “We are being inundated with guns from states that have virtually no gun control, no background checks, no ban on assault weapons — that is hurting cities like Chicago.”
Although these accusations have leveled by Chicago politicians for decades now, they are a myth.
For one thing, there is no state in the nation with “virtually no gun control” or “no background checks.” Every time anyone in the United States purchases a gun from a federal firearms licensee (FFL) — a gun store, a gun show, it doesn’t matter — the seller runs a background check on the buyer through the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) database. In some cases, the FFL checks to see if the buyer has passed a background check via a state-issued concealed-carry permit. In states that allow individual private sales, it is illegal to knowingly sell to anyone who you believe is obtaining a firearm for criminal purposes.
Those who cross state lines to buy guns undergo the same background check, and the sale is processed by an FFL in the buyer’s home state. The exact same laws apply to all online sales.
The vast majority of Americans obtain their guns in this manner, and they rarely commit crimes. Around 7 percent of criminals in prison bought weapons using their real names. Fewer than 1 percent obtained them at gun shows. As the Heritage Foundation’s Amy Swearer points out, there have been around 18 million concealed-carry permit holders over the past 15 years, and they have committed 801 firearm-related homicides over that span, or somewhere around 0.7 percent of all firearm-related murders. Concealed-carry holders not only are more law-abiding than the general population as a group; they are more law-abiding than law enforcement.
Studies of those imprisoned on firearms charges show that most often they obtain their weapons by stealing them or buying them in black markets. A smaller percentage get them from family members or friends.
On top of all this, federal law requires every FFL license holder to report the purchase of two or more handguns by the same person with a week to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This is one of the reasons straw purchasers — people with a clean record who buy for criminals — spread their operations to other states. This is not unique to Illinois or Chicago. It has nothing to do with strict or lenient laws. It has mostly to do with cities and states failing to prosecute straw purchases.
Lightfoot claims that 60 percent of the guns used in Chicago murders are bought from out of state. I assume she is relying on 2017’s suspect “gun trace report,” which looked at guns confiscated in criminal acts from 2013 and 2016. Even if we trusted the city’s data, most guns used in Illinois crimes are bought in-state. If gun laws in Illinois — which earns a grade of “A-“ from the pro-gun-control Gifford Law Center, tied for second highest in the country after New Jersey — are more effective than gun laws in Missouri, Wisconsin, or Indiana, why is it that FFL dealers in suburban Cook County are the origin point for a third of the crime guns recovered in Chicago, and home to “seven of the top ten source dealers”? According to the trace study, 11.2 percent of all crime guns recovered in Chicago could be tracked to just two gun shops.
The only reason, it seems, criminals take the drive to Indiana is because local gun shops are tapped out. There is a tremendous demand for weapons in Chicago. That’s not Mississippi’s fault. And Lightfoot’s contention only proves that criminals in her city can get their hands on guns rather easily, while most law-abiding citizens have no way to defend themselves.
Lightfoot may also be surprised to learn that California borders on states with liberal gun laws, such as Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. Yet no big city in California has quite the murder and criminality of Chicago. New York borders on states with liberal gun laws, such as Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. Yet NYC’s murder rate is only fraction of Chicago’s. Texas gets an “F” from Gifford Law Center, yet Houston and Dallas have murder rates that are half of that in Chicago. The rates in Austin and El Paso are tiny when compared to Chicago.
Then, of course, the “assault-weapons bans” that Lightfoot brings up have absolutely no bearing on Chicago’s murder rate, even if such prohibitions actually worked. There were 864 murders in the state of Illinois in 2018 (the last year for which the FBI has full stats). Of homicides where the type of weapon is reported by law enforcement, 592 were perpetrated using handguns, 14 with rifles, and four with shotguns. Over 100 murders were committed using knives, other cutting instruments, hands, feet, and other types of weapons. And of the 14 “rifles” used, it’s almost surely the case that not all of them were “assault weapons.” Among the illegal guns recovered by Chicago law enforcement in 2018, 12,220 were handguns of some kind and 1,769 were rifles and shotguns.
In the states in Illinois’s neighborhood with no bans on “assault weapons,” the number of murders committed with a “rifle” is correspondingly small — ten in Indiana, eight in Tennessee, six in Kentucky, four in Wisconsin, and three in Mississippi.
It’s also worth pointing out that gun homicides dropped sharply in most cities after the national “assault weapons” expired in 2004, even though the AR-15 would correspondingly become one of the most popular weapons in the country. The AR-15 is an excellent home-defense weapon, but long guns aren’t conducive to criminality, despite what we see in movies. Tragically, AR-15s are often favored by psychotic mass shooters, but rarely by the murderers who plague Lightfoot’s city.
It keeps getting worse. Nearly 400 people have already been murdered in Chicago this year, around 100 more than in the entire year of 2019. On the night of May 29, 25 people were murdered and another 85 wounded by gunfire, more than any day in 60 years. And yet the mayor is appearing on TV to blame Mississippi and Texas. It is far more likely that black-market guns find their way to Chicago because the place has been a poorly run criminal mecca for decades.
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The conventional wisdom among Chicago liberals, is that nearby Indiana has lax gun laws, and that guns on Chicago streets come from Indiana.
I don’t know anything about Indiana gun laws, just that this is what they say in Chicago.
Don’t a lot of criminals gets guns on a black market somewhere, and thus avoid the whole system of background checks?
Not sure what this means. Murders were 492 in 2019 down from 567 in 2018. Maybe ytd, maybe firearms only. In any case a significant rise.
Yes, black market. As the article points out background checks are Federal, not state. The argument refers to gun shows, neither Indiana nor Wisconsin require a NICS check for private sales. If you’ve ever been to a gun show I doubt you saw many gang bangers, nor traffickers buying handguns by the trunkful. And it’s worth noting transporting said handgun just purchased across state lines could be a problem, and reselling it in Illinois would be both a state and Federal violation. Plenty of laws. And as the article noted less than 1% of murders are committed by weapons bought at gun shows.
This Ping List is for all things pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
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Then why isn't violent crime rates in these other cities as high or higher than Chicago's?
“The conventional wisdom among Chicago liberals,”
To the Leftist mind, an explanation doesn’t require evidence or proof, if it reinforces their biases and sounds somewhat plausible. And plausibility is optional.
“The tragically incompetent mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot...”
Man, is that an apt description!
Dude, this is 2020— facts don’t matter; only feelings do.
Lightfoot could have just as easily stated that even though Chicago unequivocally demonstrates gun control laws don’t work we are going to keep implementing them. It’s the same thing. They make our argument for us and don’t even realize it. If these tyrants can’t keep guns out of a micro area like Chicago how would it be possible to keep guns out of the entire nation.
Very true.
Evidence is not required for those who espouse liberal or leftist talking points.
The reality is that Chicago has lax enforcement of its murder laws. With few shootings, even fatal shootings, resulting in convictions, gangsters just shoot with impunity. And we have more guns than persons in this country, so no one can limit effectively access of criminals to firearms. Criminals fear not to commit the crime of burglary or otherwise to steal firearms.
If Chicago determined to convict murderers and send them to Illinois state penitentiary for the rest of their lives, then gun violence would decline. Why? Killers in prison cannot kill others. Imprisoned gang killers cannot train, indoctrinate, and brainwash boys into future gangsters. And the inevitability of a lifetime prison sentence deters others. With less shooting and stealing (and a far friendlier tax and regulatory scheme than Chicago allows), more legitimate businesses can thrive, giving boys opportunities through employment to attain partially to manhood.
-——gangsters just shoot with impunity.-——
The use of the term gangsters is not really correct.
The shooters are almost all black ferals who have populated the city and reverted to their wild African jungle status. The Chicago shootings are a black cultural norm that the politicos will not oppose. The Chicago government is composed of similar black politicians that will never lift a hand against any one that is black.
It must be remembered that these black ferals like their amcestors who were sold into slavery are not equal to the sociatal norm. The only they can achieve anything is by criminal, anti social , action.
A black feral is a once domesticated person who has gone wild
No law works if they're not enforced. Violate existing gun laws on the south side, you're at very little risk of doing time, and likely will be out on zero bond within hours. Murders, around 75% are unsolved. Don't try violating gun laws in the suburbs though, that's a different story. Lightfoot has the tools she needs to fight Chicago's mayhem, she doesn't use them and hundreds die. That's despicable.
What?
7
How come those states sourcing the guns don’t have the high crime rate that Chicago has? Just askin’.
Milwaukee has a higher murder rate than Chicago. I believe Indianapolis ranks higher than Chicago on violence, maybe lower specifically on murder. The mayor of Milwaukee spouts the same nonsense. Ironically in terms of murder Chicago ranks down around 20 most years. But it's bigger than places like East St Louis, DC, Baltimore et al. And has a long term reputation dating to prohibition. Obviously it's a urban culture issue, has nothing to do with legally available firearms.
If lax gun control next door is the problem, why isn't Indiana drowning in blood?
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