It happened again. It was another bloody weekend for Chicago. The figures were in on August 22; seven dead, with another 47 wounded in shooting across the city. On August 23, four people were killed with another 13 wounded in shootings. Since Thursday morning, one person is dead, with 10 others wounded. This butcher’s bill is bound to go higher as we approach Sunday evening. So, of course, the lawmakers in Illinois think that what Chicago needs is more gun control. Right now, the Windy City is on track to have a 500-homicide year (via CNN):
Gov. Bruce Rauner approved a law on Tuesday that imposes a stiff penalty on anyone without a gun-owner identification card who brings a gun into the state of Illinois to sell.That crime is now a felony that carries a prison sentence of four to 20 years, or up to 30 years for repeat offenders, according to a spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, one of the bill's sponsors.
Before this new law was passed, gun owners caught for the first time without the proper ID were charged with a misdemeanor and got less than a year. Repeat offenders would get up to 5 years.
The governor and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin made it clear that the law is aimed at reducing crime in Chicago. Durkin said that 425 people have been murdered with guns in Chicago so far this year, and another 2,320 have been wounded. The guns in about 60% of those crimes were purchased out of state, he said.
The law is meant to cut down on straw purchasers who buy guns in states with loose laws and drive them into cities with tough gun control laws, like Chicago and New York, for resale. This flow of guns is known as the Iron Pipeline.
Chicago already is one of the most anti-gun cities in the country. The city’s stringent gun control laws proved to be (shocker) ineffective against gang violence and curbing the horrific string of shootings that plague the city. More penalties for gun owner identification cards, a law that is already absurd since we shouldn’t need ID to exercise our constitutional rights, isn’t going to curb anything. Criminals are still going to get their guns. Innocent people will still die. And liberals are going to look up at the sky and wonder why. Gun control doesn’t work. Expanding gun rights, especially concealed carry rights, have an impact in deterring crime. Maybe Chicago can loosen up in their permit process? That’s a tall order. Nothing will change unless this Democratic bastion is broken up—and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.