Hey, Chicago! How are those gun laws workin' for you?

If you live in Chicago, with some of the toughest gun-control laws in the America and one of the nation's highest murder rates, you might welcome Sen. Diane Feinstein's bill to severely restrict access to what she calls "assault weapons."

But don't count on it making a meaningful dent in your city's homicide rate ... and watch out for this weapon that killed about as many people as rifles did last year. It's legally available to anyone who wants to buy it -- even minors and felons.

WND EXCLUSIVE

See what gun laws do in Chicago!

Rahm Emanuel's gang violence problem leaves dozens dead from baseball bats

Published: 8 hours ago



By Michael Thompson

In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama has renewed a charge to enact sweeping gun control legislation and Vice President Joe Biden has said using an executive order would be an appropriate way to address the issue.

And Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., plans to introduce a bill in Congress “to stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.”

It’s her direct response to the claim an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon was used in the school shooting in Newtown.
But lost in the debate on gun control is the situation in Chicago, Ill., run by Obama’s friend Rahm Emanuel, where gang violence primarily in the black and Hispanic communities led to the murders of 506 in 2012.

In a city with some of the toughest gun control laws in America, Fox News reported that Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy “acknowledged aiming at assault weapons misses the mark when dealing with Chicago’s gang violence. The weapon used is generally a handgun and rarely is it purchased through legal channels.”

A WND.com review of the Chicago Police Department Murder Analysis reports from 2003-2011 provides a statistical breakdown of the manners in which people were murdered in Chicago.

During that period, 4,251 people were murdered in Chicago; 3,371 died from being shot, with 98 percent of the murder weapons being a handgun. Thirty-seven people were killed with a rifle (caliber of bullet not specified) and 40 were killed with a shotgun.

In 27 of the murders, the type of gun used could not be determined by the Chicago Police Department.

Eight-point-seven percent of people murdered in Chicago were stabbed to death; 7 percent of the people murdered in Chicago between 2003-2011 died from what the Chicago Police Department classifies as “assault”; 92 people were killed by strangulation; 27 people by blunt force; 15 by asphyxiation; and 51 people were categorized in the “other” category by the Chicago Police Department.

A closer look at the instruments used in some of the 4,251 murders between 2003-2011 reveals:

  • In 2011, one person was killed with a pocketknife; one a baseball bat; and one was asphyxiated with pry bar.
  • In 2010, three people were killed with a kitchen knife, two with a baseball bat, one with a wooden board, one with rope/cordage, and one with gasoline (burning).
  • In 2009, a pocketknife was used as the murder weapon once, as well as a concrete block/brick and baseball bat. Clothing was also used once in a strangulation murder.
  • In 2008, a baseball bat was used twice, clothing once, and gasoline once as murder weapons.
  • In 2007, a baseball bat was used twice, as well as a pipe being used twice in murders. A hammer was used four times. An electrical/phone cord was used once.
  • In 2006, a baseball bat was used four times.
  • In 2005, a screwdriver was used twice, a baseball four times, a bottle once, a hammer once, and clothing once.
  • In 2004, a screwdriver was used once, a baseball bat seven times; a pipe, a tire iron, a bottle, and a concrete block/brick were all used once apiece. A pillow and an electrical/phone cord were also used once.
  • In 2003, a screwdriver and pocketknife were used once; a bottle, pipe, and handgun (used as a blunt weapon), concrete block/brick were used once. A baseball bat was used four times as a weapon in murder.



Less than 1 percent of the murders in Chicago between 2003-2011 were with what the Chicago Police Department classifies as a “rifle,” which is what an AR-15 would be classified.

Over the period of time, 31 people were murdered with a baseball bat in Chicago, which is almost comparable to the rate at which “rifles” were used as a murder weapon over the same period of time.

See what gun laws do in Chicago!