Lori Lightfoot Kim Foxx
Images AP

By Larry Keane

Insanity is repeating the same failing action but expecting success. Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot is facing a perpetual crime problem and she continues to eliminate law enforcement positions and blame others.

The mayor is in a war of words with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx about Chicago criminals taking Easy Street, recently denouncing Foxx’s unwillingness to charge a daylight gang shooting that was caught on camera.

Meanwhile, innocent Windy City residents who just want safe communities are left defenseless by crippling gun control laws, lack of police support from elected officials and a revolving door where public prosecutors let criminals walk free.

Chicago Crime Clarion Call

If there’s anything left to shock the senses in Chicago, it might have been the daylight incident caught on camera. Criminals exchanged gunfire between cars and a home with police officers nearby. Tragically one person was killed. Five others were taken into custody. Despite the clear evidence to charge criminals, nothing was done.

Mayor Lightfoot immediately blamed Foxx. “Given that evidence, a pod camera right there that captured the entire thing…why isn’t that enough?,” the mayor asked. “If the bad guys that are out there that are picking up guns and shooting without any regard for the sanctity of life, do not believe that there’s accountability for them, the brazenness will not end…and our communities will not be safe.”

Cook County State’s Attorney Foxx called the mayor’s blame-shifting “wrong” and “inappropriate.”

The back-and-forth wasn’t limited to the two elected leaders either. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois jumped at the chance to lash out. Addressing the mayor and Chicago Police Superintendent Donald Brown, the group said the two, “need to end the finger-pointing and blame game and get serious about addressing the spike in gun violence.”

The irony here is rich. A mayor who slashed the police budget is blaming the prosecutor who won’t jail criminals even when they’re caught on camera.

Bright Ideas

At least 100,000 Chicagoans have fled as Mayor Lightfoot tries to distract city residents. She recently offered up a bright idea to reverse the trend on a conference call, suggesting the city throw a party.

The Chicago Sun Times excoriated the mayor for her proposal, calling it, “surprisingly naïve.” “No amount of marketing — no feel-good weekend or folksy pitch to come on home — will turn those numbers around. Chicago will first have to make substantially more progress in fixing the problems… That means reducing crime, and improving schools and policing,” they wrote.

Lori Lightfoot
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

Residents aren’t surprised and aren’t laughing at the mayor’s laughable idea. She went all in with the defund the police movement in 2020 and eliminated 600 law enforcement positions while crime surged through the coronavirus pandemic.

As police retirements climb and the city faces dire budget restraints this year, the mayor is again getting pressure from the defund movement to further reduce law enforcement. All the while, Mayor Lightfoot embraces strict gun control that limits Chicagoans’ ability to protect themselves. If past performance predicts future behavior, it’s not looking good for Chicagoans who want safety.

Doing What They Can

Chicago is suffering as law enforcement is attacked and criminals are let off the hook. They’ve seen prosecutors – not just Foxx – let criminals walk out the front door. Illegal firearm straw purchasers in the Chicago area have been shown leniency. Those firearms have then been used to commit dozens of other crimes in Chicago neighborhoods and the perpetrators see no jail time.

Man holds handgun in gun store
Bigstock

Meanwhile those who want to take ownership of their Second Amendment rights and personal safety are doing all they can. The Illinois State Police announced 554,195 background checks were processed in 2020 compared to just 385,770 in 2019.

With Chicago Mayor Lightfoot, Attorney Foxx and others charged with keeping residents safe all pointing fingers at each other in a crossfire blame game, Chicago residents remain focused on one key point: safety. They’re taking responsibility, even when elected officials won’t.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

 

32 COMMENTS

    • Free Kyle.
      There it is, if the good people of Chicago want their city back they’re going to have to take it back.
      Maybe Foxx is giving it the go ahead?

  1. Many new Detriots in the making across the country. It’s 60-70s redux in America; a replay of destructive “progressivism.” That begs the question, will we see a pushback ala the 80s and 90s?

    Stay tuned, folks. And keep carrying!

      • And bell-bottom pants! Don’t forget to bring back bell-bottom pants with disco!

        I just hope that disco music comes back. Today’s music totally lacks the soul and groove of disco music.

    • I wonder why that NJ serial killer story never got much national coverage.

      Melatonin level?🤔

      • because he didn’t use a gun.

        that’s what the media and democrats act like, that anyone who does not use a gun in a crime doesn’t exist.

        had he used a gun they would have been all over it.

      • JC,

        I think you meant melanin.

        However, it we can jack-up the melatonin levels in these bad guys maybe they will get more sleep and become nicer.

        • Hahahaha.
          I let the auto fill on my phone complete the word melanin.
          I’ll have to pay closer attention to what my phone thinks I’m saying.

  2. “The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois jumped at the chance to lash out. Addressing the mayor and Chicago Police Superintendent Donald Brown, the group said the two, “need to end the finger-pointing and blame game and get serious about addressing the spike in gun violence.”

    Wait, what? Isn’t prosecuting and locking up criminals and gang bangers a way to reduce “gun violence”? Gun control ain’t gonna get it done, and in any event the State now has pretty much complete control over gun laws. Chicago’s gun laws are the same as the rest of the state after McDonald.

    It is nice that the ISP processed lots of background checks. When are they going to start processing the massive backlog of FOID card and CCW requests?

    • Grow up Chicagoans. Screw the FOID’s, CCW’s, the mayor and the AG. Get a gun or 3 and plenty of ammo. Learn how to use it/them. Carry one, with spare mags, everywhere. The cops and the law have resigned from this life and death game. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!!!

      • Well one of my favorite gun shops-Westforth in rural Gary,Indiana no longer sells guns to ILLinoyed residents because of da mayor Lightbrain. She’s suing them. I have bought a gun there but mainly buy lights,a foregrip,magazines and just bought a red/green dot sight. And my buddy( who moved to Dyer last year)has purchased an AR,a Ruger 22 & a Sig 365. I don’t blame Westforth. They do a stellar job vetting homies & riffraff attempting a straw purchase. To me the non-foxy Foxx is far worse. Bought & paid for by Sores…

  3. Maybe time for some elected officials to be on the receiving end of the violence.
    But then the thugs would destroy their get out of jail free card.

  4. The only problem is that the citizen’s “taking responsibility” never includes voting out the fools responsible.

  5. Well as I said on a previous post the one thing we all have in common is we are human. So it really makes no difference what color, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference you identify with. Incompetence cuts across all those categories so if you are a black, female, lesbian or heterosexual Mayor or Attorney General and you are incompetent then you are incompetent. They both fit that bill to a tee and to hell with CRT and having white people apologize for the behavior of these incompetents.

  6. I am at a loss as to why they don’t vote the Democrats out and vote in a law and order Republican

  7. Until Universal Background Checks are passed criminals will continue to feed off of the “Iron Pipeline” which runs tens of thousands of guns from Southern States with lax gun laws to Northern States and Big cities that have tough laws rendering such laws useless. Two Chicago studies proved that gangs get their weapons from second hand gun sales that have traced guns passing through many hands and ending up sold on the streets of our major cities.

    No civilized country permits gun sales without background checks. We reap what we sow and that is mass murder on our streets from unregulated gun sales. Its that simple and its not rocket science.

    FROM NPR:

    So activists have been calling for governments to defund the police. And I want to ask each of you, did that happen where you are?

    CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: Well, it didn’t happen in Chicago. In fact, it’s really just the opposite here, with nearly $2 billion designated for police spending next year.

    JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Yeah, same in New York. I think a lot of New Yorkers might be surprised to find out, not only did NYPD’s budget not get cut, it actually got a boost for fiscal year 2022. It’s $10.4 billion, and that’s up from 2020.

    • Where can you buy a gun without a background check?

      You think people with “criminal intent” or being labeled a criminal before actually doing a crime (I guess you are referring to priors?) are going to give a fuck about “laws”? Do you think they won’t find a weapon regardless? How many states have very strict gun laws and these criminals still find guns? But you think it’s because massive amounts of guns come flowing through the borders from other states? Bruh, those guns have been there for years, serial numbers filed off and passed around from hand to hand being sold privately against the “laws”. What proof do you have that any of the guns used in “crimes” in those states, or any state for that matter, were illegally brought into that state? Were they ever registered at one point? If so, where, when? You would think you could track all this, right? But I guess statistics and logistics don’t actually matter when you are ranting liberal “facts” about “gun violence” related to “the lack of background checks” in states with strict gun control laws already… amirght?

      Also, what did your “quote” from NPR have to do with your lack of information on background checks? You are just a special kind of ADHD, aren’t you. You claimed “two chicago studies” showed proof and then ranted about police defunding and police budget increases? Site your two studies and they better be fucken good, lol. I love debunking “studies” and their variables – or lack thereof.

      shutdafuckup.

  8. Chicago and a hundred other large or mid-size cities goes to show that melatonin-rich Third-World governance is ineffective and turns cities into 3rd- world sh*t-h*les. The lib wet-dream of destroying America from within is coming true.
    No-one will save us from ourselves but ourselves!

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