According to the web site HeyJackass.com, the city of Chicago was home to 749 homicides so far this year. With over three weeks ’til the end of the year, the annual homicide rate for Chicago should end-up around 28 per 100k residents. That falls into the rates typical for places where the rule of law has failed, such as South Africa (32), Brazil (25), the American Virgin Islands (33), Puerto Rico (24), and Jamaica(36).
Twenty-eight homicides per 100k is the overall rate for the entire city. Some neighborhoods are much more violent, while others have a very low homicide rate. No surprise there. When the rule of law breaks down, people fear the law less than they fear their enemies. Grudges, blood feuds and tribalism (or the proto-tribes known as “gangs”) flourish. It’s reasonable to fear being disarmed more than being arrested for being armed. From chicagotribune.com:
But what of the trigger men and boys?
“Their greatest fear is that they’ll be caught on the street without a gun,” [Cook County Sheriff] Dart said. “They’re not worried about being caught with a gun, but without a gun. There is a certain logic to it. They know the system, but that’s not what they’re afraid of.”
In the gun culture, the saying is “It is better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.” It was nice of Sheriff Dart to remind us of this fact. In fact, The Chicago Tribune and Sheriff Dart seems to have discovered a fundamental truth about guns. Perhaps they should follow that logic train to the next station, and promote firearms ownership amongst the City’s law-abiding population. We’ll be waiting for them there.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Link to Gun Watch