Chicago ended 2012 with what was a grand total of 513 homicides which equates to a 15 percent increase from the 448 homicides that took place there in 'The Windy City," during 2011, and that's based on data from the Medical Examiner's Office and the police. Actually the police department announced that Chicago ended 2012 with 506 homicides, but unlike the police department, certain outside groups looking into the data organize homicides based on the date the incident occurred, not the date the victim died. Also those same groups included fatal shootings where charges may not have been brought against the shooter because the shooting was an accident or in self-defense.
Also, when compiling the data, neither the police nor outside interested parties count in their totals, fatal shootings by police officers and DUI incidents that result in homicide charges. This past December ended with 25 homicides; 37 homicides were logged in December 2011, at least according to available data. Three homicides have been recorded thus far this month. Forty homicides were recorded in January 2012. Also, there were 192 shootings in Chicago throughout the month of November 2012, and that was a 49 percent increase from a year earlier, again according to police records obtained by the Chicago Tribune. Police records also reveal that shootings increased more than 11 percent in the first 11 months of 2012 compared with a year earlier.
So, even though his city has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, apparently Chicago Mayor Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel views what is a very obvious trend in his city, as being reason enough to attempt to initiate additional plans to restrict gun ownership even further by banning individuals with a violent misdemeanor conviction from getting a gun permit for five years. But Rahm is not the only Illinois Democrat determined to ignore the facts that stricter guns laws simply don't work. Democrats in Illinois state house also busy demonstrating that they have their heads buried in the sand as they attempt to move forward to increase restrictions on a statewide level.
So remaining completely oblivious to the mountains of evidence that proves beyond the shadow of a doubt the fact that stricter gun laws simply don't work, those brilliant Illinois Senate Democrats have now recently decided to advance legislation the purpose of which, we are told, is to restrict semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, pressing forward with new gun control measures in the waning days of the session over the objections of firearms groups. A Senate committee approved two bills, one dealing with the weapons and the other with magazines but it's being reported by some sources that Democrat supporters could face a tough sell in the full Senate.
National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbyist Todd Vandermyde told lawmakers the bill would restrict about 75 percent of handguns and 50 percent of long guns in circulation today. He also said it would treat law-abiding gun owners like criminals, and is in conflict with Second Amendment rights upheld by the courts. "I've never seen a piece of legislation that tramples on so many court decisions," Vandermyde said. What Mr. Vandermyde seems to not quite understand is the fact that Democrats care very little about what the courts may say when it comes to moving forward with their gun control agenda. The other bill, introduced by Democrat state Sen. Dan Kotowski, would limit ammunition magazines to 10 or fewer rounds.
Those pushing for enhanced restrictions say stricter rules are needed in the wake of a string of high-profile mass shootings -- most recently the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn had been trying earlier this year to pass new legislation in the wake of the Colorado movie theater shooting, but lawmakers are taking another crack at it. Kotowski sponsored legislation in 2007 that would have prohibited assault weapons and .50-caliber rifles. His bill made it through a Senate committee but died on the floor. Another Democrat state lawmaker, Antonio Munoz, introduced the ban on all assault weapons "designed for war." Quinn has repeatedly tried to get stricter laws on the books but has fallen short.
Gun manufactures in Illinois have already threatened to leave the area if laws limiting guns are put in place. ArmaLite owner Mark Westrom told FoxNews.com that he’s been fielding offers from at least two others states to move his operation if gun control laws in Illinois are pushed through. So Democrats prove once again that they view the advancing of their political agenda, of which stricter gun control is a definitely a part, as being what’s most important to them, regardless of the potential loss of jobs that may result. Any job loss is viewed as being nothing more than an acceptable level of collateral damage as they try to move forward in their quest to further restrict gun ownership. As with all things Democrat, it’s all about the politics.
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