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A Summer of Mayhem Could Be Upon Us...And Chicago's Weekend of Carnage Points to That

The areas with the most stringent anti-gun laws on the books are also meccas for gun violence. When the criminals are the only ones packing, you can expect bloodshed. Chicago has become the focal point in the discussion concerning how gun control utterly fails in protecting the public. It’s the innocent who are disarmed. It’s the criminals who carrying illegally at-will. Are we shocked that most in the former group become victims? Memorial Day weekend was a shooting gallery in the Windy City. Now, we had another bloody one, with everyone worried about what it to come as we approach the dog days of summer (via NBC News):

A surge in shootings over back-to-back weekends in Chicago has brought fears of a violent summer to the city.

Five people were killed and at least 55 more were injured in shootings over the weekend. The violence followed a Memorial Day weekend in which three people were killed and 34 others were wounded.

"Violence in Chicago, as you all know, continues to be a challenge, especially this time of year," Norman Kerr, director of the city's Office of Violence Reduction, said Monday at a news conference to address the shootings.

Homicides are up by 5 percent and shootings are up by 17 percent this year compared to the same period last year, Police Superintendent David Brown said at the news conference. Homicides tend to peak in the summer in Chicago and elsewhere.

Before the most recent spate of shootings, violent crime had been falling in Chicago this year, according to the police department. May was the second straight month the number of homicides in the city declined compared to the same month last year, police said. There was also less violent crime over Memorial Day weekend compared to last year.

Don’t be shocked if those numbers change. Chicago has been known for its bloody weekends, especially during the holidays. In 2016, the city got off to its most violent start in two decades. Thanksgiving, Labor Day, July Fourth etc., all were marked by an insane number of shootings. 

And it’s not just conservatives who are noticing that we could be in for a hellacious summer of crime. It's also not going to be happened just in Chicago either. COVID is over. People are out and about. Things are bound to happen and it doesn’t look good.