It’s not just Chicago, Stupid
Debunking another NRA Myth
Debunking another NRA Myth
“I think if you look to Chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun-related crimes last year, they have the strictest gun laws in the country. That certainly hasn’t helped there.” — Trump Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, following the Las Vegas mass shooting.
The NRA, in its endless and well-funded fight against common-sense gun control, has pushed many false narratives. Some of these false narratives (which have become talking points for Republicans) promote the idea that Chicago, despite the “strictest gun laws in the country,” is the “gun violence capital” of the United States. They use this narrative to “prove” to millions, whom they know will never fact check, that gun control doesn’t work. Reality presents a very different story.
Ignoring the human toll of gun violence and using racism to promote their agenda, gun extremists divert attention away from solving gun violence. Rather than acknowledge the epidemic of gun violence that infects the entire United States and the need for common-sense gun reform, they find convenient coded scapegoats and blame gang violence, Democrats, “the blacks,” and the “failures” of gun control in Chicago. While true that Chicago suffers from hundreds of murders each year, it is not the worst America has to offer — perhaps that is the most disturbing aspect to this article.
An Astonishing Death Toll
An International Disgrace
“Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded.” — Everytown
The United States is unique among developed countries in its murder rate. More Americans have been killed by gun right here at home since 1968 than in ALL U.S. wars combined since 1775.
Since 1968, over 1.5 million Americans died by gun, over 40% by homicide. The U.S. sees an average of over 40,000 gun-related deaths each year. This is a staggering number considering the combined death toll from all U.S. wars since 1775 is 1.3 million. In just the last two years (and every two-year period prior), more Americans have died by gun violence than died in the entire 20-year Vietnam War.
[Everytown] noted that “more than 110 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded.” They added: “The U.S. gun homicide rate is 26 times higher than other high-income countries. In 2020, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries, 54% were suicides (24,292), while 43% were murders (19,384).”
Perhaps the most disturbing [statistic] is that gun violence is now the leading cause of death in children and teens 1–19. exceeding motor vehicle crashes for the first time in 2018.
Chicago is Not Alone
Chicago is not immune to the madness and has a serious gun violence problem. Each year, hundreds die by gunshot. The [Chicago Tribune], reported 899 shooting incidents thus far in 2022 compared with 1,061 in 2021 during the same period. Of the 243 homicides in Chicago thus far in 2022, 223 (92%) were [by gun].
While Chicago leads in raw numbers, analyzing the numbers on a per capita basis over time shows Chicago isn’t the “gun violence capital of America.” As horrific as these numbers are, Chicago is not alone, and that is the crux of the problem facing America. That is what should be shocking the detractors.
Chicago is the third-most populous city in the U.S with roughly 2.7 million residents. Its [homicide rate], for the period 2010 through 2015, was 16.4 per 100,000 residents. In comparison, the homicide rate in New Orleans was 46.9 while 45.0 in Detroit, and 43.8 in St. Louis. Homicide rates spiked in 2020. Looking at per-capita homicide rates in 2020 alone, Chicago still isn’t near the top at 28.6 per 100,000 residents. St. Louis saw the highest increase and leads the nation by far with a homicide rate of 88.1.
Chicago’s “Strict” Gun Laws
So, how can all this carnage be happening if Chicago has “the strictest gun laws” in America? Gun control doesn’t work, right? Once again, these are false narratives pushed by the NRA. While Chicago (and the state of Illinois) certainly has stricter gun laws than Louisiana, Mississippi, or neighboring Indiana, it does not have the strictest.
Gun Laws Struck Down
While NRA-beholden conservatives spew politically-motivated lies and have successfully convinced millions that Chicago has the “strictest gun laws in the country,” reality shows otherwise.
“We need to realize that people who think that ‘well, maybe if we could just implement tougher gun laws, it’s going to solve it,’ Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis. And so, if you’re looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you’re talking about is not a real solution.” — Texas Governor, Greg Abbott following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, that took the lives of 19 fourth-grade children and two teachers on May 24, 2022
Gun extremist groups have fought many of Chicago’s attempts at control. According to the Chicago Tribune: “In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 1982 ban on handguns in Illinois, and three years later, Chicago ended its gun registry. In 2014, a judge overturned Chicago’s ban on gun shops.”
In addition, Illinois has not banned the manufacture or sale of untraceable ghost guns. In the wake of the 2019 Aurora Warehouse shooting where 5 people were killed and six wounded, Illinois finally passed universal background checks that include private sales in 2021. However, the law doesn’t take effect until 2024 and doesn’t impact neighboring Indiana where guns are freely available without a background check.
Unfriendly Neighbors
“The lack of uniform, national gun policy combined with lax gun laws in neighboring states make gun-running easy — and a lucrative business.”
The lack of uniform, national gun policy combined with lax gun laws in neighboring states make gun-running easy — and a lucrative business. In 2016, the New York Attorney General’s Office commissioned [a study] on suspected gun trafficking and reported, “86% of handguns recovered by law enforcement agencies were from out of state.” Six out of seven handguns connected to recent crimes in New York state came from out of state. As we saw with [Payton Gendron], the Buffalo Tops Supermarket shooter who circumvented New York’s ban on high-capacity magazines by driving a few minutes to Pennsylvania, a state with few restrictions on guns and high-capacity magazines, Chicago is minutes away from Indiana, another state with lax gun laws.
[A 2017 study] commissioned by the City of Chicago found that 60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago came from out of state. Neighboring Indiana accounted for 1 in 5 of these guns purchased at federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs).
The [resulting gun tracing report] identified certain gun shops as the source of guns used in crimes: “Seven of the top ten source dealers are within Illinois, and six of those seven fall within the Cook County suburbs that border Chicago. The remaining FFL source dealers within the top ten are located in northwest Indiana. Collectively, these ten source dealers make up almost a quarter of the crime guns recovered in Chicago, despite the existence of many other federally licensed dealers in Chicago’s vicinity.” But the study was only able to focus on guns purchased at FFLs where some transaction records were available. The study did not review guns purchased from private sellers in Indiana where background checks are not required.
Gun Trafficking Made Easy
“33 states don’t require background checks for all gun sales”
33 states exempt the private sale of firearms from any background check, waiting period, or record-keeping requirements — Indiana is one of them. Buyers can go online to facilitate a sale or walk into a gun show and walk out with as many weapons as they want without any record of the sale.
This “gun show loophole” makes for a never-ending law enforcement nightmare — and a never-ending caseload:
In 2015, the [DOJ] announced that David Lewisbey from South Holland (of Chicago suburb) was sentenced to 16 years for dealing and transporting firearms. Lewisbey was the leader of an Indiana-to-Illinois gun trafficking ring. The group illegally sold 43 firearms to a government informant in less than 26 hours. The guns were obtained at a gun show just 40 miles away — in Indiana. The [Chicago Tribune] reported that one of his middlemen, Levaine Tanksley, told a government informant: “Twenty-five more in four hours. Give me $5,000 and you can put your order in then. I’ll get you whatever, give me a list.”
In February 2022, the [DOJ] indicted four men on federal firearm offenses for trafficking guns from St. Louis to Chicago. Robert Narup bought firearms at gun shows and sold them to Jerome Boykin in St. Louis, Missouri. Boykin brought the guns to Chicago and sold them to Rogelio Mancera in exchange for marijuana. Mancera then re-sold the guns to Rodolfo Ortega who sold them on the streets of Chicago.
In March 2022, the [DOJ] announced that an Indianapolis man, Stephen King, pleaded guilty to dealing firearms without a federal firearms license. He purchased hundreds of guns legally at various federally licensed dealers in Indiana and sold them within days of purchasing them. King was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. The 167 firearms he sold included guns tied to crimes in Chicago.
Straw Purchases
These three examples illustrate a “[straw purchase],” which is defined as buying a gun for another person who is a felon or otherwise prohibited from owning a firearm. The Chicago [gun tracing study] found that in 95% of criminal cases where a gun was used, the person with the gun was not the initial purchaser. Straw Purchases are currently illegal, but hard to enforce, especially in a private sale where there are no background check or paperwork requirements. But law enforcement makes attempts. In 2021, the City of Chicago [filed a lawsuit] against a northern Indiana gun store alleging the dealer ignored the clear signs of so-called straw purchases.
Despite what many see as an obvious problem, the [NRA fought] to overturn the ban on straw purchases and barely lost in the Supreme Court 5–4. The law was used to prosecute the man who bought guns for the San Bernardino terrorists.
Weaker Gun Laws = More Death
[A recent study confirmed] the obvious: States with weaker gun laws have higher rates of firearm-related homicides and suicides. These include Mississippi (28.6), Louisiana (26.3), Wyoming (25.9), Missouri (23.9), and Alabama (23.6). The states with the lowest rates included states with stricter gun laws, such as New York (5.3), Rhode Island (5.1), New Jersey (5.0), Massachusetts (3.7), and Hawaii (3.4). California had the strongest gun laws in the country and has a lower death rate than many states. [After the 1996] Port Arthur mass shooting, Australia passed sweeping gun control measures including mandatory gun buybacks that largely ended mass shootings. Murders and suicides plummeted. Australia’s death rate is now 1.04.
“The data shows Chicago isn’t the “gun violence capital of America.” That is what should be shocking the detractors. It’s not just Chicago, stupid.”
Stop the Bleeding
“Having strong gun controls in a state that neighbors a state with lax gun laws is like a no pee zone in a swimming pool.”
Americans are being shot and killed each and every day in Chicago. Americans are being shot and killed in St. Louis, in New Orleans, in Buffalo, in Uvalde, in Newtown. They’re being shot and killed across the country. Lax and inconsistent gun laws not only make it nearly impossible for cities like Chicago to stem the flow of illegal guns, the sheer scope of the problem makes law enforcement’s job nearly impossible. Having strong gun controls in a state that neighbors a state with lax gun laws is like a no pee zone in a swimming pool.
The data shows Chicago isn’t the “gun violence capital of America.” Other cities are even worse, per capita. That is what should be shocking the detractors. It’s not just Chicago, stupid.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryanDawsonUSA