Investment WatchblogU.S. Sen. Ron Johnson links strict gun control laws in Chicago with a high murder rate
Citing the number of school shootings since Sandy Hook, a woman asked U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson at one of his town hall meetings why he doesn’t support expanded background checks for gun purchases.
The Wisconsin Republican responded by connecting strict gun control with a high rate of homicide.
“I’ll repeat it: I think we have enough gun laws on the books; we should enforce those,” Johnson told his audience in Appleton on Feb. 18, 2014.
“But, if you really take a look — again, look at the facts. The most stringent gun laws on the books are in places like Chicago, (which) has the highest murder rate.
“I mean, you see a lot of these — and let’s face it, they’re all tragedies. I wish there was some magic solution to end those tragedies, prevent them, but there’s not. Some of these tragedies occurred with firearms that were legally obtained. We’ve got, what, 300 million guns on the streets? These tragedies occur in gun-free zones. So, law-abiding citizens abide by those laws; the criminals don’t.”
Is Johnson right that Chicago has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, as well as the highest murder rate? And that the two are tied together?
We’ll check both parts of his claim.
Chicago gun laws, murders
Two days after the town hall meeting, we asked Johnson spokesman Patrick McIlheran for evidence to support the senator’s claim. The next day, a blog posttitled, “If stricter gun laws were a magic wand, Chicago would be safe,” appeared on Johnson’s official Senate web page.
McIlheran referred us to the post and said he didn’t have time to discuss Johnson’s claim.
In the post, Johnson cited reports from 2013 by National Public Radio and The New York Times in saying that Chicago has some of the nation’s strictest anti-gun laws.
Several experts told us there is wide consensus on that point.
But Johnson changed the part of his claim about murder in Chicago.
Chicago doesn’t have the highest murder rate among U.S. cities — as in, the number of murders per 100,000 residents — but rather the highest number of murders, Johnson wrote.
The blog cited the latest full-year FBI figures, for 2012. Chicago ranked first among cities in raw numbers, with 500 murders. But its 18.5 murders per 100,000 people didn’t even put the Windy City among the top 10 cities for murder rate.
Those figures are for all murders. We also found a January 2013 report by economist Richard Florida that said Chicago had a rate of 11.6 gun murders per 100,000 residents, far below the city with the highest rate, New Orleans, at 62.1.
So, on the first part of Johnson’s claim, Chicago has some of the most stringent gun-control laws in the United States, but does not have the highest murder rate.
Chicago murder rate far worse since strict gun control
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/4/chicago-murder-rate-far-worse-strict-gun-control/
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/welcome-to-chicago-strictest-gun-control-in-the-nation-highest-murder-rate-in-the-nation/#YbvhrqMmyOMWQjdp.99
It boggles my mind that something as obvious as this requires all the twisting of logic by gun haters. Criminals gravitate to the most defenseless, just as predators do in nature. More weapons among potential victims raises the chance of injury, fewer weapons increases the chance of success. How hard is that to understand? Only minds clouded by emotion or fear of an armed citizenry will deny an obvious truth.