Chicago's mayor says his city is “in a state of grief” over the bloodshed that's happened so far over the extended Independence Day weekend. As of Saturday morning, a dozen have been killed and 61 wounded in Murder City, USA. By comparison, the AP reports that 33 people have been killed nationwide in gang violence over the weekend. So if my math is correct, Chicago itself accounts for more than one-third of America's homicides during the holiday.
Why Does One City Account for More Than a Third of America's Holiday Weekend Homicides?
John Boch, Shooting News Weekly
While that may seem shocking, it shouldn't be. This is just another weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson's Chicago America's largest open-air shooting gallery. Over the Father's Day weekend, gang bangers managed to stack up 10 dead bodies and wound another 62 per the indispensable HeyJackass.com.
From the AP . . .
Shootings and other violence during the extended Fourth of July weekend have left at least 33 people dead, including 11 in Chicago, and injured dozens more nationwide, authorities said.
The Fourth of July historically is one of the nation's deadliest days of the year. A flurry of shootings around the holiday a year ago left more than a dozen people dead and over 60 wounded. And a year before that, seven people died in a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago.
Violence and mass shootings often increase in the summer months, with more people gathering for social events, teens out of school and hotter temperatures.
Chicago ‘in state of grief'
In Chicago alone, 11 people had been killed and 55 wounded in shootings as of Friday morning during the extended July Fourth weekend, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The violence included a mass shooting on Thursday that killed two women and an 8-year-old boy.
The recent violence “has left our city in a state of grief,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
A community rally was planned for Friday evening, and the city will beef up police presence over the weekend, Johnson said in a statement.
Another photo-op community rally should be just the thing to turn things around this time…if it doesn't provide yet another target for gang members toting switch-equipped pistols to spray some more lead.
Besides, Mayor Johnson has a plan! It doesn't, however, involve arresting any gang members. And holding those who commit most of the cities crime accountable via prosecution and incarceration is completely out of the question.
The more cynical among us might call Hizzoner's plan yet another “vote-buying” stunt but that would be churlish. Mayor Johnson, you see, is focused on the big picture.
From WGN . . .
Mayor Brandon Johnson says he's focused on long-term investments to help solve the city's ongoing issue with gun violence…
Arguing there's no quick fix, and that the city must get at the root causes of violence, Mayor Johnson is diverting resources to long-suffering neighborhoods…
The Johnson administration safety plan includes $100 million for violence prevention, massive youth employment and 400 new civilian police positions. But as the mayor implements his strategy, some city leaders have grown restless.
Johnson wants to shower more taxpayer money the city doesn't have on more failed “violence prevention” programs that will continue to fail more and harder.
What the windy city needs is new leadership that focuses on supporting and funding the police, targeting and prosecuting criminals, and holding them accountable with meaningful prison sentences. Paying off “justice-impacted individuals” – A.K.A. criminals – $200 a day to some how “prevent violence” isn't a realistic solution to the gang violence that's been running rampant in the Second City for decades now.
If only Chicago's political leadership emphasized personal responsibility, protecting law-abiding citizens and lawful gun ownership for self-defense instead of more failed vote-buying programs. But that's just crazy talk.
SNW is online at shootingnewsweekly.com.
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