From Today's Chicago Tribune

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DonP

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Considering that Chapman is a member of the Trib Editorial Board, this columns is kind of stunning. The link is here if anyone wants to read the enitre column.

We had another round of killings last night on the South Side followed by another press conference with the new Police Commissioner, followed by the usual calls for banning .50 caliber rifles and assault weapons throughout the state.


Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0424...

City misfires on gun violence
Steve Chapman
April 24, 2008

When a rash of gun murders takes place, it makes sense for the police to do one of two things: renew tactics that have been effective in the past at curbing homicides, or embrace ideas that have not been tried before. But those options don't appeal to Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis. What he proposes instead is a crackdown on assault weapons?


I'm tempted to say this is the moral equivalent of a placebo—a sugar pill that is irrelevant to the malady at hand. But that would be unfair. Placebos, after all, sometimes have a positive effect. Assault weapons bans, not so much?


If there are too many guns in Chicago, it's not because of any statutory oversight. The city has long outlawed the sale and possession of handguns. It also forbids assault weapons. If prohibition were the answer, no one would be asking the question.

(edit)

Gun control hasn't worked as a remedy for crime. So what makes anyone think the answer is more gun control?
 
Thanks for the link. I sent the author a note, and I suggest everyone do the same.
 
Thanks for the help. I always have problems putting in links.

FWIW, there is a comments section following the article where you can leave a thank you note or comment.

In typical Trib fashion the comments (that are not published of course) tend to run about 20 to 1 in favor of gun rights.
 
The think that struck me the most about the police chief's quote was that I'd seen nothing in the accompanying article to suggest that "assault weapons" had been used at all.
 
This was a refreshing change from the normal columns written on guns and gun control here.
I really think that it boils down to the fact that it's easier for them to blame some thing rather than admit that they have failed. How long have they been waging the "war on drugs"? How long have the gang task forces been in force? They have lost both battles and don't want to admit that fact. The two factors almost always go hand in hand in these shootings, gang related and drug related. Blame the weapon of choice and then the responsibility is deflected. The news keeps talking about "common sense" gun laws that are needed such as a ban on .50 cal rifles. When was the last time that a .50 cal rifle was used in a crime?
What they don't want to talk about was how an existing state law prohibiting mental health patients from obtaining an FOID card failed miserably leading to the NIU shootings. The only explanation that I heard by the ILL state police was the he wasn't in their data base. I have a question....WHY NOT? It's like the news media doesn't want to even touch that one.
Sorry for the rant but this state is so screwed up that it isn't even funny.
Do you think there is any chance that Chapman would run for political office?
Pat
 
I really think that it boils down to the fact that it's easier for them to blame some thing rather than admit that they have failed.
Click to expand...

You're close, but the real reason is that it is easier to blame guns than to state forthrightly that Chicago happens to be a place inhabited by a high proportion of violent scumbags.

It's not the guns of Chicago that are the problem. It is the large dirtbag population.

Almost every city in America allows for easier (legal) access to guns than Chicago does. But most of them have far lower rates of violent crime.

The problem is that if a politician tells his constituents the truth, that they are dirtbags, the dirtbags will get angry and vote him out in the next election.

As long as irresponsible fools keep having children they don't know how or can't be bothered to raise, the ranks of the gangbangers will continue to be replenished and the overall situation will remain grim.

Maybe if elected officials were joined by religious leaders and community activists where they all spoke with one voice to the general population, condemning their scummy behavior and telling them that it was about time they stopped acting like fools, it might make a difference. But this isn't gonna happen, because all too often the politicians, religious leaders, and community activists make excuses for dirtbag behavior instead of condemning it.

Then they take the easy way out and condemn our constitutional rights instead.
 
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