Happy New Year, Chicago Style: 513 Homicides in 2019 (and That's an Improvement) - The Truth About Guns

The good old Windy City, formerly America’s “Second City” before droves of residents began moving out year after year because of the violent crime and ever-rising taxes. Chicago rolled into 2020 with 513 homicides for the year 2019.

So much for a new mayor and a new police superintendent getting a handle of the mayhem.

The good news is the total number killed declined from 2018. Again, from HeyJackass.

Preliminary 2019 Totals (vs 2018)
Shot & Killed: 460 (-7%)
Shot & Wounded: 2294
Total Shot: 2754 (-7%)
Total Homicides: 513 (-13%)

Meanwhile, the fake news media reporters have outdone themselves spinning alternative numbers on behalf of the Democrats who run Murder City, USA.

From the Sun-Times…

Lori Lightfoot urged Chicago police to close out 2019 with fewer than 500 murders

When Mayor Lori Lightfoot met with top Chicago Police Department officials a week ago, she had a number in mind: 500.

Lightfoot pressed the police brass on what they intended to do to keep the 2019 body count in Chicago below 500, police sources say.

As of Tuesday evening, the police department’s murder count for the year was 492. Officials say they’re hopeful that total won’t surpass 500 by the time the new year begins at midnight.

The 2019 murder total is expected to be the lowest since 2015.

What didn’t the Sun-Times mention, aside from the massaged numbers below the psychological threshold of 500?

Yes, the CPD’s abysmal homicide clearance rate: 12.2%. In other words, if you murder someone in Chicago, you have an 87.8% chance of escaping arrest for the crime.

Don’t entirely blame the police for this. The homicide map from above shows a strong correlation to the “no snitch” culture on the streets. Real life isn’t like the Chicago PD TV series where they always catch their man.

Here in the real world, if “nobody saw nothing” at crime scenes, it makes it tough for police to do their jobs. What’s more, it also emboldens criminals to ignore the law.

And then there’s the racial makeup of those on both ends of the violence. The Sun-Times neglected to mention anything about that, either. Even though blacks only make up 30% of the population, they are very disproportionately represented as both victims and perpetrators of violent crime in the city.

Unfortunately for the vast majority of law-abiding Chicago residents of all races, those bad actors victimizing others make it harder to work and raise a family unmolested by crime.

For what it’s worth, the city voted 83.7% for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. But Chicagoans are nothing if not politically engaged. While some parts of the nation struggled to reach a 40% voter turnout, Chicago had an amazing 101.3% voter turnout in the 2016 election.