BELLEVUE, WA – Following what the Chicago Tribune is calling the deadliest weekend so far this year, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says the continued slaughter is proof that the city’s strict gun control laws are an abject failure.
At least 17 people died over the weekend, bringing the year’s death toll to at least 638 people. So far, more than 3,660 people have been shot in the Windy City, and two full months still remain.
“This continuing savagery in a city that stubbornly resists every attempt to reform its restrictive gun laws, which only discourage and disarm law-abiding citizens, is a testament to the failure of gun control,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.
Gottlieb noted that more than a year ago, a study by the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab revealed a truth about criminals and guns that seems to have been overlooked by officials who adhere to the city’s failed policies. That survey, taken among Cook County Jail inmates, revealed that they do not get their firearms from gun shows or Internet sales, and most definitely not from commercial firearms dealers.
“More than two-thirds of these offenders got their guns from family, friends or fellow gang members,” Gottlieb recalled. “These people can’t obtain guns via legal means, and the existing restrictions don’t prevent them from being armed. Criminals can’t get a Firearm Owner’s Identity Card, and they darn sure can’t get a concealed carry permit.
“Our sympathies go to the families of all the innocent victims of this carnage, and to the good citizens who must live in constant fear because gun control laws make it hard for them to have the tools to fight back,” he added. “Maybe it’s time for Chicago leaders to take a lesson from Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke or Brevard County, Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey, or even Detroit Police Chief James Craig. They’ve encouraged their citizens to be legally armed as a deterrent to violent crime.
“Does Chicago want to curb the violence and empower its citizens to fight back,” Gottlieb challenged, “or does the city want to stay the present course? Haven’t enough people been sacrificed on the altar of gun control?”
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.
