Gun mad Chicago celebrates
independence with multiple murders
Al Capone is alive and well, or so it would seem in Chicago, America’s
third most populated urban area. Chicago has 8.6 million people compared with
New York’s 18.3 and Los Angeles’s 12.1 million. But Chicago remains the only
American city to record more than 500 murders in a year, almost all of them
shootings.
In Chicago this year, Independence Day started with a bang. Corey
Hudson aged 34 was shot dead while walking with a friend on the street. That
was at 2:30 am Friday and it was quickly followed by other slayings.
Over the holiday weekend seven people died and 50 were injured.
One shooting involved police shooting dead a suspect. Two others were wounded
by police gunfire. Increased policing since 2012 has seen a slight reduction in
the murder rate for 2013 when 415 people were murdered in the windy city. But a
further 2,185 people were injured by gunfire, and all in the name of the right
to bear arms.
Without weapons, Americans would have to use their fists for
protection and it is rare for fist-fight victims to die. Fist-fights can be
one-sided depending on the age, fitness and size of the combatants, but surely
it is preferable to shooting an attacker dead before he shoots you dead.
Evidence that America’s gun laws are crazy can be found in world
murder statistics. When the American rate for murder without guns is compared
with countries that have restricted access to guns, America comes out very
close to the average for developed countries. It is the gun-related murder rate
that tips the scales.
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Carrying a gun for protection, except in a military conflict, is
foolish and invites death at the hands of a like-minded individual. Carrying a
gun for protection can, in a split-second, turn a defender into an accused
criminal and, in many states, a candidate for government murder. Who wants
that?
Anyone doubting the danger of carrying guns for protection
should look at Chicago’s record for the last week of June 2014. In that week
Chicago had 43 murders and all but three involved guns.
People who are genuinely concerned about safety should not carry
guns, and they should not listen to the advocates for the National Rifle
Association. They are hunting on a different planet.
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