Chicago saw a 139-percent increase in its murder rate during July, compared to July 2019. The news was made public by both TV and print media in Chicago following a police statement on August 1.
There were 105 murders reported in Chicago during July 2020, and 44 reported in July 2019. Moreover, 406 “shooting incidents” were reported in Chicago during July 2020, an increase of 75 percent over the 232 report last July.
The Chicago Sun-Times, citing the police statement, reported that during the period from January through July of this year, murders are up 51 percent compared to the first seven months of 2019, along with a 47-percent increase in shootings.
The Sun-Times reported that in response to the surge in violent crimes this year, the Chicago Police Department announced on July 8 that there would be a new city-wide unit of officers deployed to help combat the violence.
“As we continue moving more officers into the districts and closer to our communities, we have also been focused on creating teams that can address violent crime head-on within our most vulnerable neighborhoods,” the Sun-Times quoted Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown. “Our officers will engage directly with residents. We will hear their concerns, and continue to work in partnership with them as part of an all-hands-on-deck effort to curb the violence in our communities.”
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An August 1 Breitbart report about Chicago’s escalating murder rate quoted Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s statement during a July 26 appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, in which she blamed the city’s violent crime on guns brought into her city from states that — unlike Illinois — respect their citizens’ right to keep and bear arms.
According to The Hill, Lightfoot told CNN, “Our gun problem is related to the fact that we have too many illegal guns on our streets, 60 percent of which come from states outside of Illinois.”
The New American has published multiple articles about the out-of-control violent crime in Chicago. One recent article, on July 28, noted that Lightfoot has accused President Trump of playing politics and claimed that if he really wanted to help with the problem, he would work to infringe on the Second Amendment even more than it has been already. “If the president was really committed to helping us deal with our violence, he would do some easy things. What he would do is push for universal background checks, he would push for an assault weapons ban, he would push to make sure that people who are banned from getting on airplanes can’t get guns.”
As we observed, “What Lightfoot fails to concede is that Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois already have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. The measures already in place have not made citizens safer, only more vulnerable as law-abiding Chicago residents are not likely to jump through all the hoops the city and state have set up in order to obtain and carry a weapon for self-defense.”
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Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
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