It's true that the murder rate (primarily from gunshots) is very high, spiking in 2016 and staying high in 2017 (on pace for almost 700).
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But courts and state gov have reduced Chicago's strict gun laws. For example Illinois allowed concealed carry in 2013, superseding city law.
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Scientifically, we can't conclude from the data that strict gun laws made Chicago more or less safe. Too many confounding factors. 4/x
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Most of the violence is gang related. Both sides heavily armed. So it's not like people are getting killed because they don't have guns. 5/x
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No matter how strict Chicago's gun laws, Indiana's were always much less strict. And there's no Indiana-Illinois border control. 6/x
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Chicago still doesn't have gun stores, or host the gun shows that allow people to skirt background checks. The guns are brought in. 7/x
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According to Chicago PD and the FBI, most of the guns used in Chicago homicides were legally purchased. Often in bulk. 8/x
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The biggest advantage of Chicago gun laws isn't preventing guns coming in from out of state. It's arresting/prosecuting gang members 9/x
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Much easier to arrest someone and convict them on a firearms charge than on something ambiguous, like belonging to a gang. 10/x
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And smarter, larger gangs separate the jobs of drug dealer and enforcer. Cops can't arrest the violent members on drug possession. 11/x
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Most gun control proposals prompted by mass shootings wouldn't do anything to stop Chicago gangs from getting weapons. 12/x
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They mostly do not use AR-15s, or other civilian versions of military-grade rifles. 13/x
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"Assault weapon" is very hard to define. And pretty easy to get around. Either way, a new assault weapons ban wouldn't help Chicago. 14/x
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Expanded background checks and closing gun show loopholes could help. Make it harder for gang to send 1 or 2 people to buy out of state 15/x
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But gang violence is a multifaceted problem. Unclear how much stricter gun laws would help. Definitely wouldn't solve all of it. 16/x
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But one thing's clear: Gun violence in Chicago tells us absolutely nothing about how national gun laws might affect America as a whole (END)
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Right up there w "Dems are KKK" trope. So stupid.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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When you can drive a few hrs and legally purchase one. Yes it is.
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Unless gun show sellers don't accept out of state drivers licenses for personal ID checks.
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