After weekend bloodbath, Chicago police chief makes surprising admission about city’s tough gun laws
The head of the Chicago Police Department is now admitting that more gun laws don’t necessarily result in less gun violence because criminals don’t “play by society’s rules.”
Chicago, a city run by Mayor Rahm Emanual, former White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, reported double the number of killings throughout Christmas weekend this year than last year. At least 27 people were shot, 12 of them fatally, according to ABC News.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a news conference on Monday that most of the shootings between Friday evening and Sunday evening were “targeted attacks” by gang members going after rival gang members who were gathered for Christmas and holiday parties. The Chicago Tribune reported 90 percent of those fatally shot were involved in gang activities, had criminal histories or were previously known to police.
The deaths bring to more than 750 the number of gun-related deaths in Chicago just this year. As ABC News also noted, it’s the first time in more than two decades that Chicago has seen more than 700 people die in a single year as a result of gun violence.
As TheBlaze has reported multiple times, Chicago has among the nation’s most restrictive gun laws. But as Johnson acknowledged at his Monday press conference, repeat gun violence offenders don’t often don’t obey those laws.
“These gun offenders have repeatedly shown us that they’re not going to play by society’s rules,” the police superintendent told WLS-TV.
As a result, Johnson is now calling for repeat offenders to face tougher penalties for crimes they commit.
(H/T: New York Times)
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