Among items not widely reported in the mainstream media we have Chicago’s regular weekly (largely criminal) weekend shooting report. The final tally for this past weekend according to the Sun-Times:
Ten people were killed and 45 more, including two Chicago police officers and a 15-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings across Chicago over the weekend.
Ahead of the weekend, Chicago police braced for protests in the city in the wake of civil unrest north of the Illinois border sparked by the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake. The department’s new Critical Incident Response team, consisting of about 200 officers, was deployed downtown. Seven people were arrested at a Black Lives Matter protest at Loyola University Saturday, while a march downtown that day ended with no arrests.
As per usual the bulk of these appear to be gang- and crime-related shootings. Chicago has long had a serious problem with violent crime, most of it due to criminals wielding firearms (think drugs, gangs, and what have you), even when it’s illegal for them to do so. Imagine that.
The Chicago Tribune reported that July 2020 was the most violent month Chicago had seen in 28 years, with 107 people were killed. By comparison, August was a light(er) body count month, though, according to our friends at Heyjackass.com, the Windy City did set a record for the largest number people shot during the month.
August 2020: 65 killed, 431 wounded
August 2019: 51 killed, 241 wounded
August 2018: 60 killed, 302 wounded
August 2017: 55 killed, 289 wounded
August 2016: 98 killed, 398 wounded
August 2015: 57 killed, 306 wounded
August 2014: 55 killed, 250 wounded
And the Heyjackass.com crystal ball looks bleak as it peers into the new future.
We’ve been looking for a slowdown in killings, which we got, but it was made up for by the number of shooting victims. We had forecasted 90 homicides with and additional 400 shot and wounded, which while each individual metric was off, the overall total on dead on. Despite the official Summer Shooting Season wrapping up this weekend, September will most likely continue the Season’s trend. We’re forecasting another 60 homicides and an additional 325 shot and wounded with #3000 person shot coming in mid-month.
How is this relevant to the current climate? Beware, we’re running into op-ed territory again . . .
The large number of people killed in Chicago in a single weekend is relevant because it happens so frequently that it’s often ignored. The probably-justified-shooting death of one rapist, child molester, or home invader may warrant a headline, but the repetitive, rampant murder issue in Chicago, not so much. There’s an election coming up and there are other cities burning.
Perhaps if people focused on solving crimes and prosecuting the perpetrators rather than taking up their social justice warrior banners we’d see a decline in actual crime. Instead, they tend to get worked up over almost every LEO-involved shooting and them get to work burning neighborhoods, destroying businesses, assaulting random individuals, and murdering people. Even better is how many of the rioters travel in from outside locations.
It’s past time to concentrate on the problems in your own back yard. You’ve heard the phrase charity begins at home? So does safety and self-defense.
Maybe it isn’t your literal brick-and-mortar home that you live in, but it’s your town, city, and state. Should you care about what’s going on in the country at large? Absolutely. Standing up for your rights is never a bad idea. But getting worked into a lather over something when you lack information and details or are simply looking for a fight is another story entirely.
How many of these protestors/looters/rioters truly give a crap about George Floyd or Jacob Blake? Probably just about none of them.
If anyone was truly concerned about shootings or “gun violence” in general, they’d be all over the Chicago murder rate. Instead, they look for flimsy reasons to loot stores and burn businesses. Some protests are peaceful, but many are not – and so many are blatantly lied about as “mostly peaceful” by those attending and reporting on them.
We are a nation at a boiling point. It’s only a matter of time until riots spread like wildfire rather than cropping up here and there, not because people are upset at injustice, but because opportunists are looking for reasons to throw tantrums, steal and burn things.
Do you think it was a coincidence that all three people Kyle Rittenhouse shot were felons? It wasn’t. Who do you think are the most frequent participants in civil unrest and violence?
Criminals behave criminally. It’s what they do, and just about the only thing they’re good at. If you want to do something that results in a more peaceful society, maybe stop harassing police who are trying to do their jobs and start working to prevent violent crime in places like, say, Chicago.