Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
By Matt Manda
Last weekend, Chicagoans witnessed a weekend that saw at least 71 people shot. Tragically, nine of the victims died from their injuries. Just two weeks ago, Chicagoans survived a weekend that saw at least 44 people shot. Tragically, at least eight of the victims died from their injuries.
In a city where criminals know they can get away with violence and criminal shootings – even when police are involved – it’s not surprising that law-abiding Chicagoans would consider arming themselves and, God-forbid, having to use their firearm for self-defense or to protect their families.
That’s just too much for The Chicago Tribune editorial board. The media masters there went out and did the most editorial board thing possible and decried such a trend.
“Worryingly, we’re seeing more signs of that phenomenon in Chicago, with three separate episodes over the last weekend in which would-be victims proved to be both armed and willing to fire at their assailants,” the board chose to write.
It must be nice to live in such an Ivory Tower.
Table of contents
Is Anyone There?
So far in 2024, the crime situation in Chicago is so bad residents are relying on themselves for safety. In fact, according to NSSF-adjusted NICS data, nearly 200,000 Illinoisans have purchased a firearm during the first five months of the year alone, including in Chicago. They have no other choice.
Police and law enforcement have been hamstrung by “defund the police” politicians who cut budgets in recent years, including 400 police officer positions that were eliminated in 2020. Even if any would-be victims in the Windy City called 911 for help, there’s a better than even chance their call won’t be answered. More than 50 percent of high-priority calls to emergency dispatchers go unanswered, according to recent reports.
So as crime remains a serious concern for Chicago residents, they’ve turned to legally purchasing a firearm. As a competitive shooter and past History Channel “Top Shot” champion, Chris Cheng told U.S. Senators during a 2021 congressional hearing, “If I can’t have law enforcement there, then it is a rational conclusion that individual citizens like myself would opt to utilize my Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm and use that firearm in lawful and legal self-defense.”
Cue the Chicago Tribune’s disapproval of that notion.
Surely Not!
The Tribune’s enlightened ones decried that Chicagoans have had it with the criminals running the city and are now standing their ground. They referenced four criminals who police said were attacking the lawful gun owners and were shot and wounded, all of them critically, according to a report. One would-be victim shot three criminals who were attacking him and another shot a man who was breaking into his home.
“We’re seeing more of these cases… But the majority of Chicagoans, we’re convinced, don’t feel any safer when they read stories of good-guy-with-a-gun responses to street crime… Overall, it’s not a healthy environment in a city — where by definition people live close together — when gun-packing citizens become more the norm than the exception.”
They even recognized that the “defund the police” effort has decimated the city. “Surely, it doesn’t help the narrative, either, when the Chicago Police Department has more than 1,000 openings for officers that it’s struggling to fill,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote. “Surely, our public officials…can agree that the growing risks of more ordinary citizens taking responsibility for their own safety at the point of a gun isn’t a healthy development.”
Once again, if law enforcement can’t be the ones to provide basic public safety to keep Chicagoans safe, what do they expect city residents to do?
NSSF Standing for Illinoisans
Regarding the editors’ question about “agreeing” that ordinary citizens possessing and using firearms “isn’t a healthy development,” NSSF disagrees. It is a natural right to defend oneself against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. Using a firearm in a bona fide self-defense situation is lawful.
If criminals are going to continue illegally obtaining and using guns to commit acts of violence against law-abiding citizens and law enforcement has been reduced to the point of being unable to adequately provide for the safety of communities, then more law-abiding citizens possessing firearms and getting trained to responsibly use them in self-defense is good.
That’s why NSSF petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in Barnett v. Raoul to consider the Constitutionality of Illinois’ ban on commonly-owned firearms and standard-capacity magazines.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act in January 2023, and it is among the nation’s most expansive gun control laws. It bans the sale and possession of over 1,000 models of rifles, including commonly owned MSRs – of which there are more than 28.1 million in circulation since 1990 – and certain semiautomatic handguns and shotguns as well as rifle magazines with a capacity greater than 10 cartridges and pistol magazines with a capacity greater than 15 cartridges. NSSF challenged the law within days of the governor signing the bill into law.
NSSF argues that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit previously erred in upholding the state’s ban, which blatantly violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision chastised states that would reduce Second Amendment rights to a state-government privilege granted by bureaucrats and the Bruen decision’s “history and tradition” test rejected state attempts to inject “interest-balancing” tests. Previously, states and courts would justify gun control laws by placing a thumb on the scale to rationalize infringing on rights protected from infringement by the government.
Danger Ahead
One thing law-abiding citizens of Chicago will be closely watching is what happens in their city as the Democratic National Convention draws near. Security officials and convention planners are already voicing concerns about safety issues, even proposing moving some events online as “virtual.” Prognosticators seem to have a good idea of what lies ahead, especially when looking back at the violence surrounding the Chicago convention of 1968, with POLITICO writing, “The DNC is preparing for the worst in Chicago.”
There’s plenty to worry about in The Windy City including how officials are handling community safety and crime. Newspaper editors enjoying the comforts of their Ivory Tower should focus on efforts to hold the bad guys accountable for crimes and keep them from returning to the streets, not what steps law-abiding Chicagoans are taking to lawfully protect themselves.
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Since the Democrats swear Chicago is safe and guns aren’t necessary, they should put their money there their mouths are and forego security at their convention. Well placed gun free zone signs should suffice..
“Worryingly, we’re seeing more signs of that phenomenon in Chicago, with three separate episodes over the last weekend in which would-be victims proved to be both armed and willing to fire at their assailants,” the board chose to write.”. They said the quiet part out loud and don’t even care. OMG…the horror of law abiding citizen defending themselves from the saturation of violent crime they live in. Democrats today are the 1950’s Marxist’s operating in the sunshine. There doesn’t seem to be a democrat party anymore, just the commies.
Why doesn’t the DNC have the convention without all the security so they can experience the same thing the citizens do everyday. I mean after all they preach how safe it is so they should live it also. Just saying
This way the police could be doing their regular job without spreading themselves thinner than they are now.
A woman with her children at home in Chicago called 911 multiple times because a man was breaking into her home. The dispatcher told her nobody was coming. She should call her Alderman and complain about the budget cuts. She should hide and asked if she had any weapons. Well hell no! If she could have been able to have a firearm for home protection, this situation would have been a whole lot different. They cut funding for police thereby reducing the number of police and now when you call 911 there is nobody coming. Then they make it so hard and expensive to be able to arm yourself. Any politician or representative in Illinois and especially Chicago who complains about gun violence due to self defense should have ANY security removed immediately!
While I can appreciate the frequent reminders of the constitutional right Americans (sometimes) enjoy to own a firearm, I think we should move past that to the rationale behind that. There is a logical progression, repeated throughout history, of governments ruling over their citizenry without regard to their needs or safety. We are seeing that phenomenon grow in America. Guns, and people willing to use them, create an unsafe environment for criminals of all types, be they the strain of human disease that break into one’s home, or the more repugnant specimens that sit their fat bottoms on cushioned chairs in our capital and make high-stakes deals under the table. (You understand, these are the sort of deals that benefit these individuals, and the corporations and government bodies, that want laws changed or enacted to increase their wealth and/or power, at the expense, and to the detriment, of the American public.) Naturally, all criminals, much like the law-abiding citizens, wish to go about their business unhindered by the threat of serious bodily injury, or even death. That seems to be the only thing that the average citizen, the common criminal, and our public officials can agree on. If more Americans would vote, and punish their elected oppressors with new blood this would significantly tilt the American political scene, and its economy, in the average citizen’s favor. (I don’t much care about one’s political party; I am more concerned with one’s pragmatic view on any given situation. People who go around screaming “red” or “blue” make me nauseous.
Yet hundreds of cases of gang bangers with full auto Glock conversions get plea bargained even though federal crimes mandating 10 year minimum sentences. One may remember the Ruby Ridge atrocity was over a guy cutting a shotgun barrel a fraction under the legal length. Full invasion of all federal assets while something like 2,000 of these Glock switches have been seized by police in Chicago with almost zero action by law enforcement or federal authorities. They recently plea bargained a guy who sold a half dozen SBR’s and full auto rifles along with a large number of Glock switches.
The asshats running Blue cities promote anarcho tyranny and only prosecute victims to the full extent.
Jake, you are partially correct about Randy Weaver’s entrapment by the ATF. According to ATF agent Kenneth Faderley, the shotguns were sawed off 3/8th inch shorter than the legal minimum. Weaver denied cutting the barrels to below the legal length, insisting that Agent Faderley further shortened the barrels to below the minimum legal overall length of 18 inches after purchase to create a violation. In Weaver’s criminal court case, an Idaho jury later agreed that this was a form of entrapment.
Recently in Chicago a young married couple was psychically attacked by several youths in the Streeterville neighborhood. The savage attacked caused one of the victims to suffer a miscarriage. The victims, who appear to be hispanic, were taunted because they were dressed nicely. The offenders are Black, at this point, no hate crime or murder charges have been filed.
It’s good that criminals are facing increased dangers of an armed, law abiding populace. The Tribune used to be a stable conservative newspaper, now even the sports section is dripping with woke drivel.
Since the war mongering, senile, perverted, fake POTUS (genuine POS) considers it fair to call White people “the single most dangerous terrorist threat in our homeland,” then what should be said about violence rates throught the “homeland” that Blacks are causing? Black “fragility” and lefty lies are a big problem in the US.
those evil bastards wanting to protect themselves and family!
if i was president i would give a 1k rebate for gun purchase, 500 rebate for ammo purchase, and 200 rebate for training!
not to be tracked by any gov entities!!!