Chicago has stood for years as proof positive that restrictive gun control laws don’t make anyone safer. But that hasn’t stopped Windy City politicians from blaming pro-gun states for their incompetence even while failing to enforce their own gun control laws on the wealthy and well-connected.
The latest evidence comes courtesy of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The mayor has failed to quell violent rioting and looting in recent weeks, and the city has seen a 50 percent increase in homicides compared to last year along with the nation’s leading number of homicides in any major city so far this year (433).
Lightfoot believes the problem lies not in Chicago but in Mississippi. She has consistently blamed states with less restrictive gun control laws for Chicago’s violence, and this week she traveled down south in her cross-country blame-shifting trip.
“Sixty percent of the illegal guns that come into Chicago every year are from out of state, from Indiana, from Mississippi, from other states that have lax gun laws,” she said in an interview on MSNBC.
Chicago Mayor @LoriLightfoot blames Indiana and Mississippi for the spate of shootings in the city. pic.twitter.com/2C1iBvyB0L
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 18, 2020
SEE ALSO: NSSF: Chicago Mayor’s Pleas Risk Lives
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves wasn’t having any of Lightfoot’s nonsense, calling her “conspiracy theory” “bizarre and pathetic.”
“No serious person could think that murders are out of control and people are burning police cars in Chicago because of Mississippi’s commitment to the Constitution,” he told Mississippi blog Y’all Politics.
He has a point, of course: many pro-gun states see far less violence than Chicago, and other cities surrounded by pro-gun states don’t suffer from the same homicide rates as the Windy City.
Fortunately for the rich and well-connected, Chicago’s draconian gun control laws don’t apply to everyone.
Illinois State Rep. Curtis Tarver II was arrested in November during a traffic stop in Chicago after officers discovered his concealed carry license wasn’t valid. He insisted that his license was valid because he had recently renewed his Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID). He said in a statement that he expected his CCL to renew automatically after he renewed his FOID, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
SEE ALSO: Chicago Mayor to Gun Owners: ‘Do Not Take Matters Into Your Own Hands. Call the Police’
But a spokesman for the Illinois State Police said Tarver was mistaken.
“In order to reactivate the CCL due to an expired FOID, the person should submit a Request for Concealed Carry License Review form, which should be received with their notice of revocation,” state police told the Sun Times. “It does not automatically become valid once the FOID is valid/renewed.”
Tarver may have made a simple mistake, but it’s a mistake that would have landed any average gun owner in prison.
But not Tarver. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office decided to drop his charges due to a “clerical error.”
“I am grateful the correct decision was made to dismiss all charges against me,” Tarver told Politico. “l look forward to making the full story of my treatment by the Chicago Police Department public.”
The free stuff, and identity helps
BINGO! Folks we have a winner.
Heavy handed Lightfoot escapes to Michigan on the weekends.
We are seeing why the founders gave us the second amendment unfortunately will need to use it soon.
A couple of years ago this same argument came up in Boston, when Mayor Mumbles Menino said gun crime in Boston is due to the freer state of New Hampshire providing a way for criminals in Boston to get guns out of state. The governor of New Hampshire responded saying the rise in drug trafficking in New Hampshire was due to the dealers in Boston so keep when you keep your drugs down there, we’ll keep our guns up here.
Mississippi should put a road block on the roads in from Illinois and prevent anyone from Chicago from entering without a permit.
You can always count on politicians who consistently blame others for their incompetence. Their excuses fall apart since democrats have been in power for decades. When will these idiots ever learn?
We MUST get our ‘education’ system fixed. What’s that have to do with guns? The U.S. education system has moved further and further left since the 1960’s. The colleges have become leftist indoctrination centers and all teachers must have a college degree, so it filters down to kindergarten and goes through post-grad school. Many of the professors would make Karl Marx sound conservative. They are anti-gun, anti-constitution, anti-capitalism and anti-American. And if the students want to pass and graduate, they must parrot back the same bs in class and on their tests. One thing that is new is that the Demoncraps seem to have gotten better at blaming the innocent for the crimes the politicians commit. Of course, it has always been that way to some extent, nothing is ever the fault of the criminals, uh, err, the Demoncraps who are running the cities and states with high rates of crime and violence. Unfortunately, these folks are mostly elected, meaning that the voters get what they voted for. That is why it comes back to the schools. Unless people learn about reality, about ethics, morality and such, the same crew will stay in control forever.
This stupid bug eyed corrupted lesbian bitch is a freakin idiot.
Maybe so, but she’s in charge. The big question is: why do people like that get elected?
The mayoral race was her or Preckwinkle, who – if it’s even possible – is even MORE anti-gun than Lori Forehead is. Preckwinkle was a stooge propped up by the Chicago Teachers Union. Bottom line – the choice in Chicago was one or the other. That’s how losers like this get elected.
One could see the root of the problem as black crime and start to deal with that instead of bogus protests/ looting parties.
Lived many years in Chicago! Now that I moved I realize what FREEDOM is
Ah yes, Lori “Beetlegeuse” Lightfoot, another black woman Progressive-Socialist incompetent with an agenda.
STOP electing these anti-American, self-serving scum.
So bride of Beattle Juice like all leftist has all the answers ? Shifting the blame in a loud voice that only fools believe ! Lax law enforcement, low bails, coddling criminals of color, etc. Chicago is just another Democrat ruined city !
And perhaps a bigger problem is that the people who cannot tolerate the evil and the results of it are moving out. And when they get to their new victimhood they vote for the same kind of anti-American leftists, thus turning their new neighborhood into a hell-hole like the one they just left.
Just yesterday a story appeared in Breitbart that Chicago’s mayor, Lightfoot enacted a rule that ONLY applies to her neighborhood that prevents “protesting”. It doesn’t apply to any other Chicago neighborhoods, ONLY hers. For the rest of Chicago residents, too bad for you. “Protection for me, not thee”.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/20/lightfoot-defends-banning-protesters-on-her-block-i-have-a-right-to-make-sure-that-my-home-is-secure-law-forbids-residential-protests/
And just for the record, with regards to the peaceful “protests” that are proceeding the riots that have been taking place nationwide for the past few months, people going into neighborhoods that they don’t live in to “protest” are really predators going into neighborhoods to at the very minimum intimidate and victimize people and in my opinion deserve to get 2nd Amended on the spot, real time. IF you go into a neighborhood that you don’t live or have business in to “protest”, you ARE a predator going there looking for trouble much like happened in that gated St. Louis community where the armed couple came out and confronted the “protesters”. Those “protesters” went there looking for trouble and found it. Unfortunately it was the home owners that got into trouble instead of the predators that caused it.
Part of the problem is a lack of enforcement of the Constitution, It specifically states Peaceably to assemble to petition the GOVERNMENT for a redress of grievances .
So, how is rallying in someone’s neighborhood a petition to the Government????
It isn’t, in fact it can be construed as a threat, or intimidation as you pointed out.
This is the tyranny by a minority that Jefferson and others warned us about.
This IS what ANTIFA is really all about, an intimidation force of the minority.
And not one Lefty run City out there is willing to stand against them.
This is terrorism. They act in a violent way or threaten violence to elicit fear and to provoke a reaction from those afraid that will advance the terrorist’s goal.
And the predators are being paid and supplied by rich leftists who think that this demolition of our cities will get Trump voted out of office. For example there have been many videos showing pallets of bricks appearing on streets near where a protest is about to start and people handing out pickup loads of baseball bats, leaf-blowers (to defend against teargas), frozen water bottles, etc. Who’s buying that stuff?
If you oppose the anti-American riots, vote Republican. And that means go to the polling place and vote in person as there is much less likelihood of your ballot being stolen or thrown away if you are there in person.
Must have been a really short interview with Lighthead because she never got around to the real answer that we all KNOW. TRUMP conspired with the Russians to bring guns to Chitown to ………oh I forget why but Trump did it anyway!
Since the city’s incorporation, the majority of Chicago Mayors have been Democrat. The last Republican the city saw was in 1927.
This woman ( I use that term lightly) is either delusional or lying or both. I’ll go with lying for $1000, Alex……….
Best damn reply ever!
As a man who grew up on the Southside of Chicago I can tell you nothing has change with the exception of the competency of the Democrat party in Chicago. The old adage which the people of Chicago were proud of was “Daley is a crook but at least he leaves enough to make the city better”. This misguided moral logic is what has led to this situation. Until and when the people of Cook county reject at the ballot box these corrupt politicians it will not end. There is nothing slick about political corruption and Chicago has refined that corruption to a ART. Sadly, it’s something the people are proud of. Unfortunately, they deserve their fate which is the key to change.
The entire problem with Chicago and their high murder rate and gun violence is very simple. Just like Milwaukee WI which has been under demoncratic rule for over 100 years it is the corrupt demoncrats running the cities that are to blame. I live outside of Milwaukee and have for the last 32+ years but travel to work each day into the hell hole of Milwaukee. Just taking the trip is enough to sicken me as I observe the enormous amount of trash scattered all over the streets and lawns. On numerous occasions I have had to take detours on my route home or into work due to Police investigations of shootings, homicides, or auto crashes involving pursuits of stolen vehicles. The taverns, liquor stores, fast food restaurants, smoke shops beauty supply stores and convenience stores that make up the neighborhoods are a strong indicator of the demoncrats desire to pad their wallets with payoffs to allow those businesses to be established and prey on the residents while contributing to the horrific living conditions and poor health of the residents. Milwaukee’s homicide rate as of July 4, 2020 is double what it was at the same time in 2019, and the highest it’s been since the early 90’s. Keep voting the demoncrats into office and this trend will continue forever.
Gee, I’m surprised Tarver didn’t have an hand-written note from Beetlejuice, directing that “all courtesy” be extended to him by the CPD.
Why is it acceptable to Democrats that an ID card is required/compelled (or 2 in this case) to own, possess or purchase a constitutionally protected item but it is not OK to require an ID to vote?
Gee, give me a hard question, wouldja?
Their ultimate goal is complete elimination of private firearm ownership. In the interim, draconian restrictions, registrations, and tracking will do, as they incrementally inch forward towards their ultimate goal. (Red Flag laws are a test case)
As for voter ID not being required, seriously, you don’t get that? It’s as plain as day. It’s to allow all those people who are Not legal voters to vote. You know, all those who were promised “free” everything if they’d only give control to the Progressive-Socialists across the board. Also, to let their operatives stuff the ballot boxes with multiple illicit votes.
I think the Feds should go in under a Consent Decree and take over law enforcement and investigate, convict and fire all the malfeasance. If you can’t protect the citizens, get someone in there to do it. These leaders are too ‘comfortable’. Light them up!
AMEN to that. They say that it is “voter suppression” to require ID to vote. Yet they require ID to buy a beer, to get welfare, to drive a car, etcetera and that is not a problem for the poor but somehow they can’t afford to have ID when it’s time to vote?
As Stan said, they want the illegals and the folks in the cemetery to be able to vote. And they want Democraps and other lefties to be able to vote as many times as possible. How do you think such scum get elected every time?
Both Federal and Illinois laws prohibit an Illinois resident from buying guns in Mississippi. Illinois could pass a law making it illegal for its residents to buy guns in Indiana. Therefore, since everyone always obeys the law there can not be a gun problem in Chicago.
Chicago is an amazing stain on IL and the US. I live just a few short miles away from Chicago in the suburbs, and we have peace and quiet, law and order, cleanliness, and every other virtuous adjective. And the farther away you get from the city, the better it is.
Oh, and we have LOTS of guns, plenty of ammo, and much of that ammo is in standard capacity magazines. Our towns, businesses and homes don’t get looted, sacked or burned because if the PD was either defeated or abdicated, citizens would step in and protect ourselves. The rioters will not admit it, but the same PD that they hate and want to defund are really protecting the rioters from the citizens, not the other way around. We don’t have silly rubber bullets or other “less lethal “ weapons.
Lori Lightfoot…if Don King and Betelgeuse had a child.
Crooked pukes in government. Unconstitutional laws don`t apply to them!
Larry , Larry why ya buggin ? Sing it with me now , lol.
The problem in Chicago isn’t the gun laws or even the political party in perpetual power. It is the critical mass of blacks who solve their squabbles with a gun. It isn’t more complex than that. We all know it but most of us are just afraid to say it.
Think a little deeper than mere race, Democrats and Republicans have allowed US companies to ship What would be better than minimum wage jobs overseas. If you are an American company your production lines should be here, with only excess manufacturing capacity being exported and the first jobs cut are those outside the US. Economic disparity is a far larger contributor to criminal activity than any other factor.
You’re another one intellectualizing the reason behind criminals being criminals. Obviously, you’ve never known any; I have, and they Do Not think like the rest of us. It is Not due just to “economic disparity.”
Tell you what, SMH, why don’t you put-on your SJW hat and donate 70% of your finances to help alleviate the “economic disparity” so rampant in America, as you claim?
I’ll wait.
An actual sane comment. I have lived in Chicago my entire life and my neighborhood isn’t a trash filled slum.
It isn’t all white either.
The flood of illegal guns come from people that can straw buy weapons in lax gun law states and sell them for a nice profit in the city.
CPD confiscated more than 10,000 illegal weapons last year. Those guns came from out of state. We need a national data base to help prevent this.
Guess what Rich, your comment was NOT as “sane” as you think. Criminals will roll over for a “national data base”? Wake up “dream weaver.’ I have lived in the 606__ for several years and the city is in serious trouble ion every sense.
It isn’t the color of their skin. The schools don’t teach the kids enough to get a decent job. And those kids who have parents that teach them still can’t get a job because businesses don’t operate in the poor neighborhoods. They have to move out to get a job. So if they want to eat they have to do what they gotta do. And the globalists in charge (George Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama) did everything they could to move our jobs to China because they were making millions from the Chinese. Trump is our only chance. If Biden gets elected the government will go back to destroying industry in the U.S. and the Chinese will end up buying our country. Vote in November or you will be looking for a way to escape before 2024.