The Wall Street Journal
In Chicago, people grieved last week near the bodies of two murder victims. On a recent weekend, more than 50 people were shot in the city.
The day after the Supreme Court cleared a path to overturn this city's ban on handguns—among the toughest in the U.S.—frustrated city officials began Tuesday to consider new measures to circumvent the high court's ruling.
At a tense City Hall meeting packed with citizens holding up photos of children who'd been shot, city aldermen discussed forcing gun owners to purchase liability insurance and to undergo criminal background checks and periodic firearms training. They also peppered a firearms-law expert and Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis with questions while promising to pass something meaningful.
If the city can pass a dog ordinance that "can protect the public from a dog bite," we should be able to tighten handgun regulations, Alderman Freddrenna Lyle said.
The debate comes at the direction of Mayor Richard Daley, an outspoken critic of gun access who reacted angrily to the Supreme Court decision.
While Mr. Daley has led this city for 21 years and reshaped both its skyline and neighborhoods, he has had far less success halting the gun violence that plagues Chicago lawn care and claims dozens of school-age children each year. On the third weekend in June, more than 50 people were shot and seven killed. The youngest was one year old.
Although Chicago's homicide rate is lower than it was at the height of the gang wars that followed the crack cocaine epidemic of the early 1990s, it is slightly ahead of last year's pace and gun violence remains a prominent, high-stakes dilemma. The homicide rate in New York City is one-third that of Chicago's and the rate in Los Angeles is two-thirds, said Jens Ludwig, director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. About three-quarters of the murders in the city are committed with a firearm.
The city's gun ban has been only sporadically enforced since being installed 28 years ago. But it has become a rhetorical pillar of Mr. Daley's administration that he regularly invokes after a spike in violence.
On Monday, Mr. Daley lashed out at the Supreme Court, calling the justices hypocrites who work in a building where visitors must walk through metal detectors to enter — protections rarely afforded elsewhere.
Aldermen from the South Side, where gun violence is most pervasive, were even more critical of the court's ruling.
"The decision was totally detached from reality," said Alderman Sharon Denise Dixon, an alderman in Lawndale, which has one of the city's highest rates of violent crime. "I don't believe a Supreme Court justice could live in my ward and come to the same conclusion they did."
At Tuesday's meeting of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, aldermen suggested a raft of alternatives after the gun ban is expected to be overturned: tracking gun offenders like sex offenders; limiting residents to ownership of a single gun; and banning stores that sell handguns within city limits.
It's not clear whether such measures would pass muster with Chicago's city council, or whether they would withstand legal or constitutional challenges.
Violence in Chicago became a national issue last fall when the video recording of a 16-year-old honor student beaten to death on his walk home from high school was broadcast around the world. Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came to the city to announce new initiatives to cope with the simmering issue of youth violence.
Despite those initiatives, the city's budget is under intense pressure and police vacancies will not be filled this year, Alderman Joe Moore said.
It's widely anticipated that Mr. Daley will run for a record seventh term in February 2011. Though he hasn't formally announced his candidacy, he remains an overwhelming favorite.
Mr. Moore, a longtime critic of the mayor, said a surge in homicides has the potential to destabilize any politician. "When things get bad, any public servant in office is under scrutiny," he said.
Alderman Robert Fioretti said, "We've got to take back our streets" by allocating money to fully staff the police department.
Mr. Daley may be feeling the pressure. Last month at a press conference to show how many guns had been seized, he was asked if the gun ban was truly effective. The mayor responded by lifting a rifle with a bayonet on it and jokingly threatening to shove it up a reporter's rear end. Even by the standards of Mr. Daley's frequently colorful remarks, it raised eyebrows.
It may also reflect a growing sense that a gun ban is no longer viable because police can't be relied upon. In the last two months, two home invaders were stopped by residents who shot intruders with guns they owned.
At a tense City Hall meeting packed with citizens holding up photos of children who'd been shot, city aldermen discussed forcing gun owners to purchase liability insurance and to undergo criminal background checks and periodic firearms training. They also peppered a firearms-law expert and Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis with questions while promising to pass something meaningful.
If the city can pass a dog ordinance that "can protect the public from a dog bite," we should be able to tighten handgun regulations, Alderman Freddrenna Lyle said.
The debate comes at the direction of Mayor Richard Daley, an outspoken critic of gun access who reacted angrily to the Supreme Court decision.
While Mr. Daley has led this city for 21 years and reshaped both its skyline and neighborhoods, he has had far less success halting the gun violence that plagues Chicago lawn care and claims dozens of school-age children each year. On the third weekend in June, more than 50 people were shot and seven killed. The youngest was one year old.
Although Chicago's homicide rate is lower than it was at the height of the gang wars that followed the crack cocaine epidemic of the early 1990s, it is slightly ahead of last year's pace and gun violence remains a prominent, high-stakes dilemma. The homicide rate in New York City is one-third that of Chicago's and the rate in Los Angeles is two-thirds, said Jens Ludwig, director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. About three-quarters of the murders in the city are committed with a firearm.
The city's gun ban has been only sporadically enforced since being installed 28 years ago. But it has become a rhetorical pillar of Mr. Daley's administration that he regularly invokes after a spike in violence.
On Monday, Mr. Daley lashed out at the Supreme Court, calling the justices hypocrites who work in a building where visitors must walk through metal detectors to enter — protections rarely afforded elsewhere.
Aldermen from the South Side, where gun violence is most pervasive, were even more critical of the court's ruling.
"The decision was totally detached from reality," said Alderman Sharon Denise Dixon, an alderman in Lawndale, which has one of the city's highest rates of violent crime. "I don't believe a Supreme Court justice could live in my ward and come to the same conclusion they did."
At Tuesday's meeting of the City Council's Police and Fire Committee, aldermen suggested a raft of alternatives after the gun ban is expected to be overturned: tracking gun offenders like sex offenders; limiting residents to ownership of a single gun; and banning stores that sell handguns within city limits.
It's not clear whether such measures would pass muster with Chicago's city council, or whether they would withstand legal or constitutional challenges.
Violence in Chicago became a national issue last fall when the video recording of a 16-year-old honor student beaten to death on his walk home from high school was broadcast around the world. Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came to the city to announce new initiatives to cope with the simmering issue of youth violence.
Despite those initiatives, the city's budget is under intense pressure and police vacancies will not be filled this year, Alderman Joe Moore said.
It's widely anticipated that Mr. Daley will run for a record seventh term in February 2011. Though he hasn't formally announced his candidacy, he remains an overwhelming favorite.
Mr. Moore, a longtime critic of the mayor, said a surge in homicides has the potential to destabilize any politician. "When things get bad, any public servant in office is under scrutiny," he said.
Alderman Robert Fioretti said, "We've got to take back our streets" by allocating money to fully staff the police department.
Mr. Daley may be feeling the pressure. Last month at a press conference to show how many guns had been seized, he was asked if the gun ban was truly effective. The mayor responded by lifting a rifle with a bayonet on it and jokingly threatening to shove it up a reporter's rear end. Even by the standards of Mr. Daley's frequently colorful remarks, it raised eyebrows.
It may also reflect a growing sense that a gun ban is no longer viable because police can't be relied upon. In the last two months, two home invaders were stopped by residents who shot intruders with guns they owned.
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