You cannot seem to go even one day without waking up to the news of yet another shooting in the city of Chicago. You start your day with what happened overnight and when you come home from work and sit down for dinner, you get the grim recap of the shootings of the day. It just never seems to stop and sadly this news has become more the norm in our daily lives.
Chicago has experienced the deadliest month in over 23 years. The month of August saw 384 shootings with 472 victims and 90 murders. Currently, Chicago averages 12 shootings every day with 59 murders every month. Both shootings and murders have increased by 49 percent over this time last year.
Over 40 percent of the homicide suspects last year all had prior arrests for crimes involving guns. The Chicago Police Department reports that the majority of suspects have rap sheets that indicate they have committed previous offenses utilizing illegal guns. The Chicago Police Department's superintendent, Eddie Johnson, explained that 85 percent of the city's ongoing gun violence is being committed by suspects that are repeat offenders that number approximately 1,400.
Chicago's West and Southwest sides that encompass five police districts show a marked increase in gun violence while other surrounding areas of the city have gone down or remained the same. Many of the crimes stem from the violence found in these areas of the city, but many of the other shootings don't have these associations and unfortunately many times involve innocent bystanders who find themselves simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even more sobering is the fact that so far this year, 27 children under the age of 13 have been victims in these shootings.
With four months still remaining in this year, Chicago Police are working hard to quell the continued violence by continuing to seize illegal weapons found on the streets or ones involved in these crimes. Over 6,000 weapons have been confiscated so far. Many residents of the city are looking to their lawmakers to tighten gun laws and to put these repeat offenders behind bars. Too many criminals are slipping through the system and ending up back on the streets where they often find guns again and repeat these crimes. Too many innocent victims are murdered, too many young people, too many of them living their lives the right way, but finding themselves caught in the cross-fire.
