It is being reported that Chicago closed 2016 with a documented 762 homicides making it the highest number of deaths in over 20 years. According to CNN, Chicago had reached 500 homicides before the end of the summer, but in 2015 there were less than 500 total which illustrates that there has been a dramatic increase in violence.
There were an alarming 4,331 shooting victims involved in 3,550 shootings over the course of the year. CNN reports that according to Chicago police, just five of the police districts on the south and west side of Chicago accounted for nearly two-thirds of the increase in deaths since 2015. Many believe that the city’s strict gun laws encourage people to purchase guns from out of state which has seemingly influenced more gun violence.
Via CNN:
“Chicago has strict gun laws, which is why many gun rights advocates point to it as evidence that tighter regulation doesn’t equal less crime.
But Chicago’s gun violence problem is more complicated. Sixty percent of the guns used in shootings were purchased out of state.
“We border Indiana and Wisconsin, which have really lax gun laws,” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. We know that people from Chicago go across the border, fill up gym bags with illegal weapons from gun shows and things of that nature and they come back here and sell them to the gangs.”
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed a new gun control law which penalizes those who do not have gun-owner IDs and who attempt to sell guns from out of state.
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Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/01/02/us/chicago-murder-rate-2016-visual-guide/index.html
