Chicago Top Cop Blames Constitution for Gang Violence Shootings

chicago-gang

If only it wasn’t for that pesky Constitution, all those gang members wouldn’t be shooting each other.

Chicago’s police superintendent lashed out at what he called lax state and federal gun laws after a violent Fourth of July weekend that saw more than 60 people shot and nine killed in a city already known for frequent shootings.

McCarthy said the violence unraveled a string of successes by police in suppressing gun violence this year. The city saw 24 shooting incidents on Sunday alone, he said, although three of them may have been self-inflicted.

McCarthy said police will continue a summer program to flood high-violence areas with police, but he said that without stronger gun laws, police will continue to face an uphill battle.

Mr McCarthy says Chicago is still on track to end the year with fewer murders than last year, but the number of overall shooting incidents is up.

So murders are down… but shootings are up. How is that a bad thing?

Chicago’s murder rate actually dropped after concealed carry laws. McCarthy is agitating for laws that aren’t going to fix anything.

“It’s just insanity that there’s such a proliferation of firearms that they’re so easy to get your hands on,” McCarthy told WGN Radio on Monday. “The studies show when there’s more restrictive gun laws, there’s less gun violence. It’s not brain surgery, it’s really really simple.

“It’s going to take us a while to fix poverty and the break-up of the family units and education and jobs. But we can do something about gun laws today and we’re just not doing it.”

That may be an uphill climb: In February, a federal judge struck down Chicago’s ban on gun sales, saying it went “too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers from engaging in lawful acquisitions.” And in 2010, the Supreme Court declared Chicago’s 28-year-old handgun ban unconstitutional.

Gang members are not going to lose their guns. McCarthy claims that the difference between Chicago and New York lies is gun laws.

That’s nonsense.

Chicago has far more gang members than New York. We’re talking tens of thousands. Chicago also has a whole bunch of other social problems and it hasn’t benefited from New York’s aggressive Giuliani era policing. (That’s going away under Red Bill de Blasio.)

Gang members will always get their hands on guns. It’s ordinary people who benefit from concealed carry. Yes gun laws make it easier to prosecute gang members, but it’s a small scale solution to a big problem.

If you have a thousand gang members, gun laws can make a dent. If you have 75,000 gang members, then you’re plunking away at a mass invasion. Gun laws will make arrests more convenient, but the problem is so severe that it’s better to let people defend themselves.

  • cxt

    Are not most gang members, by definition, ALREADY breaking the law?

    Why would more laws on gun control stop them?

    • JackSpratt

      I think Chicago has zero tolerance gun control, except for the recently passed Illinois CCW law which took a Supreme Court decision to accomplish. I doubt very much these thugs had CCW licenses.

  • JackSpratt

    The problem Chicago has is democraps. They own and have owned Chicago forever, and this jerk is a democrap too. At least once in awhile NY gets some republicans in. Unless these shooting over the weekend were done by CCW holders, there shouldn’t be any other guns in Chicago. And we know they weren’t done by CCW holders, except in the one case were a Veteran with a CCW license defended himself and his friends when a thug came out shooting at them. Had Illinois not just enacted CCW (the last state to do so) he and many or all of his friends would have been killed by this thug and his thug “friends” all of whom also had guns, and opened fire on them. The Vet put two rounds in the thug and he’s in critical condition, one of the Vet’s friends, a woman, took two slugs in the back and is in stable condtion.

    • http://www.stubbornthings.org NAHALKIDES

      Yes, the Democrats are destroying Chicago and taking the rest of Illinois down with them. McCarthy is lying about the studies, of course, and can’t explain why downstate Illinois has a much lower murder rate even though it’s easier to obtain guns there. And in fact, Chicago Democrats are doing everything they can to trash the 2nd Amendment – many Illinois gun permits have been denied with no reason given (there being no good reason in most of these cases).

  • JackSpratt

    As long as the democrap party exists, and as long as it exists in Chicago, there will never be any change to the poverty level, and family breakups is what the democrap party specialize in. That’s what the democrap plantation is all about. If crime and poverty were somehow to go away, the democrap party would cease to exist.
    He’s blowing c**p out his a** when he claims that the stats show that where guns are more restricted there’s less gun violence. The scientific criminology research shows the opposite, where guns are most prevalent crime is the lowest.
    Guns are inanimate objects, Thugs are not. Thugs are produced by generational welfare, secured by the democrap plantation. Not being required to have a job in order to exist allows for many hours of idle time. If they worked it would also sap some of their energy for criminal activity. Democraps are job killers. They demonize job producers and do everything in their power to hinder business with overtaxation and regulation, and business just happens to be the engine that drives our econoomy.
    Walter Williams, black professor of economics at George Mason University, once said, on one of the Sunday Roundtables, that if the KKK had wanted to devise a plan to hurt blacks, they couldn’t have done a better job than Affirmative Action and the (so-called) War on Poverty.

    • chelmer

      My experience is nothing brings out thuggishness like weakness. Thugs are like tigers. They’re not looking for a fight. They’re looking for a meal on legs.

      • DB1954

        And they look for weakness and cowardice. They run from courage and strength.

  • Giles Blyzzard

    Cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine have been illegal for my entire life and the stuff is ubiquitous. The notion that making firearm ownership illegal will make them go away is ludicrous and shows an incredible ignorance of human nature.

    Also, it totally ignores the reason the founders gave us the 2nd amendment in the first place. The biggest mass murderers in history are governments. Which is why a free people always need to be armed.

    Did you ever notice that all of the metropolitan areas with high crime are run by democrats?

    And McCarthy outright lies about the studies that he says show gun control decreases crime. John Lott proved the opposite, which of course matters not a bit to liberals.

    • JackSpratt

      Prof’s John Lott and Gary Kleck did some great and comprehensive criminology research. One of them took every county in the nation over a 12 year period into their research. But there were others too, including Wright, Rossi and Daly, who Karter commissioned to find out that gun control worked. They went in predisposed towards pro-gun control, but found the opposite.

      • CowboyUp

        Wright and Rossi also did some good work before them, in the 70s. Like one of the researchers you mentioned (I can’t remember which off the top of my head), they originally expected the results of their study to show the opposite, but had integrity, and published their actual findings. I also remember them saying in a later interview that they weren’t asked to do any more gun control studies after that. People like the crooked and widely debunked kellerman got the grants after that, and lots of publicity for their rigged ‘research’.

        • chelmer

          That was dumb. We global warming advocates never share our source data. REAL scientists never do!

  • Nick Cameron

    Sure, like it;s all the legal gun owners that are the problem. What an idiot.

    • EyesOpen2014

      EXACTLY! Raise gun laws all they want! The bad guys aren’t going to line up to hand in their weapons. This gun issue is a joke. Take the guns away from the good guys and it’s open season in the eyes of a crook.

    • Tom von Mises

      It’s Chicago – there’s no separation between the politicians and the criminals.

  • John O’Neill

    The failure doesn’t lie with the 2nd amendment and it doesn’t lie with gun “control” laws. The failure lies with a criminal justice system that is bent on addressing the implement rather than the actor. For example, shooters in Philly are routinely charged with aggravated assault and out within 2 years. How about a minimum sentence of 20 years for shooting another person? Do it twice? Life. Then a minimum of 10 years if you’re found to be possessing a gun illegally. Put a price on the behavior that seems to be just part of life in the ‘hood.

    • JackSpratt

      Exactly, criminologists say that the number one problem is recidivism (the revolving-door (in)justice system). Leftists have been coddling criminals forever. Many, many innocent people are lying in graves, because of leftist politicians, judges, etc., releasing, via light sentences, paroles, pardons, etc., criminals, back into society, as “rehabilitated.” They’re too cowardly and lazy to go after criminals, being satisfied with stripping law-abiding Americans of their freedoms, while doing nothing in the line of crime control.. Guess it makes them feel all warm inside thinking they’ve done something.
      If you were drowning 50 ft off shore a leftist would throw you a 100 ft rope, then drop his end and run off to do other “good deeds.” Feeling good about himself, because he “cares.”

      • Mervin Faulk

        Yes..and also don’t forget about his “good intentions”!

        • JackSpratt

          Exactly, that’s what my last paragraph was meant to illustrate. The left is all about “good intentions” and nothing about results. Because their “good intentions” are always based on emotion, hysteria, and junk science, the results are almost always counterproductive.

  • truebearing

    The Chicago gangsters aren’t just using handguns and semi-automatics. They have automatic weapons which have always been illegal. He’s a liar, a fool, or both.

    The problem in Chicago is the size of the black population, just like Detroit. Urban tribalism is running amok. There are many gangs fighting to control their turf and the lucrative drug trade. Politicians won’t crack down because A) they will be accused of racism B) They make a lot of money from these gangs. C) Obama and Holder would never allow it.
    Chicago is an outhouse of corruption, crime, and senseless violence, and it always has been.

    Obama started his political career there for a reason. He wasn’t born there. He gravitated to the melting pot of evil in America because the nexus of Muslims and Marxists working together to destroy this country was in Chicago. Obama was the perfect candidate being both black and white, Muslim and Marxist.

  • Tom von Mises

    If not for that pesky 1st Amendment, people wouldn’t yell “Fire” in theaters, and “yellow journalism” wouldn’t be a problem, and jackbooted thugs like the chief could get by with even LESS brain power and less INTEGRITY.

  • cheechakos

    The state and government know where the illegal guns in Chicago come from
    http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/388649/70/I-Team-Gangsters-stealing-firearms-from-gun-store-owners-
    The rest are from the Mississippi – Illinois drug cartel trucking route that ships drugs and guns to cartel members. Illinois has the 4th highest population of illegals in the US and over 400,000 “Palestinians” who deal in drugs and guns.

    IL has more than adequate gun laws. The laws aren’t enforced. Criminals aren’t charged and are allowed to plea bargain out of illegal gun possession charges. Criminals don’t follow laws. That’s why they are called criminals.
    Judges are as corrupt as the politicians and allow gang members to walk

    And last but not least; politicians make deals with gang leaders. They trade votes for a hands off gangs policy. It’s been documented and confirmed by gang members

    • CowboyUp

      I remember reading in the news a while back about government partnerships with gangs in Chicago, supposedly to reduce violence and property crimes. I remember thinking at the time that all they did was legitimize the gangs, and that would just make the problem worse.

      • JackSpratt

        And that’s what I mean when I say the problem is borne of cowardice.

    • Elaine Perkins

      DITTO DITTO DITTO

  • Reality

    Those pesky NRA members are running wild in Chicago LOL Funny how black men can’t keep from killing each other….so, the solution is to take EVERYONE’S guns. In my neighborhood, we all drive pick-up trucks, listen to country music, belong to the NRA and own multiple guns…..no one is out shooting each other. I’d say more but I’m afraid they’ll take my NBA team away from me!!!

  • tagalog

    The laxity of state and federal gun laws is not in what they forbid; it’s in the enforcement of those laws.

  • CowboyUp

    “It’s going to take us a while to fix poverty and the break-up of the family units and education and jobs.” – McCarthy. Ya think? The town is run by democrats and their policies created those problems, or, as in the case of poverty, made it worse. So none of them will be improved, much less fixed, until that changes. Meanwhile, the law abiding in Chicago must be able to protect themselves from the criminal element empowered by the democrats, and the mess they made.

  • chelmer

    Bush wrote the Constitution?

  • Guest

    America doesn’t have a ‘gun problem’, we have a demographics problem.

    • blight14

      My goodness, finally, someone utters the obvious……this nonsense of ‘democratic leadership’ got old long ago! Pittsburgh, Denver, Seattle, etc. all have ‘democratic leadership’ but they don’t have the issues seen in Memphis, Detroit, Chicago, Birmingham, etc….what’s the difference between Denver and Detroit? Good call, you are 100% correct, granted, you’ll likely get blasted by the PC police for daring to speak the truth.

      • JackSpratt

        You’re a halfwit. Chicago and Detroit, DC, and other hellholes have entrenced democraps.

        • Raydonn

          The answer you seek is ‘demographics’……..democratically run Denver(white) is vastly safer than democratically run Detroit(black)….its really that simple. An areas propensity to crime is in direct proportion to its minority population, simple math.

  • JackSpratt

    Frustrating isn’t it!!

  • Terminus88

    When it comes to killing their own, blacks are anything but lazy. I see a new field of permanent employment for young black males. Perhaps we could get some of that “My Brother’s Keeper” money to fund it.

  • George_Johnson

    It seems like parts of Chicago are worse than Baghdad or Damascus. Isn’t it the responsibility of the government and police to protect the innocent? If I was the police chief or mayor of Chicago I would put a stop to any innocent person being shot very fast. If one gangster wants to shoot another gangster that is bad but maybe doesn’t warrant extreme laws or efforts. However, when innocent people are shot, then that is unacceptable and needs to be stopped at all costs. As an example, when should a gun ever be shot from a car? Never, not even when hunting. So pass a law that says if you shoot from a car, it is automatically minimum of 10 years with no eligibility for parole. It doesn’t matter whether you hit something or not. Pass another law that say if you shoot at a gangster and hit an innocent bystander, then it is automatically life without eligibility for parole. It won’t be easy, but you will more likely protect the innocent.

    • JackSpratt

      Why not just simplifiy it and make murder illegal?

  • Michael Deas

    the constitution has been subverted in chicago, it is a gun free zone. meaning only the citizens who obey the law are unarmed victims. this would never happen in an open carry, pro constitution zone. modern liberals are stupid, Thomas Jefferson type liberals are, sadly, extinct! anticipating knee jerks from said blinded baby killers, I am not pro bush, never was. he is a war criminal as well and should be publicly hung for treason along with frank marshal davis’ son barak!

    • JackSpratt

      Modern liberalism (leftism), especially in the U.S., is a 20th century phenomenon and the opposite of the classical liberalism of the Founders, e.g., free enterprise economy, limited government, property rights, religious freedom, firearms freedom, liberty loving, etc. As Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek wrote in his book, The Road To Serfdom, today classical liberalism resides in conservatism.

  • Lily Haley

    It is due to mankind’s sinful heart. Violence back in Noah’s day was one of the things that led to God sending the flood. Murder has been going on since Cain killed Abel. Guns are just a tool like many other things people use to attack their enemies. The Constitution enshrines the 2nd amendment as the means by which we defend ourselves from other people and an overreaching government.

  • jacmeoff

    The mainstream media has distorted what the cop said… he said its weak gun laws in Chicago that allow thugs caught with an illegal firearm to avoid jail. But the MSM want to turn this issue into a gun control issue which clearly it is not. Do they have different laws in the north and east parts of Chicago than in the south and west? No, they don’t. Then why were there no shootings in the white north and east and a bloodbath in the south?