"A respectable third-world army"

Bob Owens reports on a city wracked with strife and voilent groups.

Fifty-four shootings in two weekends. Shot-up bodies recovered in groups of three and five. Is this Ramadi? Basra? No.

Welcome to Chicago.

After a recent outbreak of gun-related violence, Mayor Richard Daley is now pushed into supporting a plan by new Police Superintendent Jody Weis to arm 13,000 Chicago police officers with assault rifles. Depending on how many weapons are eventually deployed, this may develop into the largest militarization of police patrol officers in United States history. If the department arms 10,000 of their officers with M4s, the police will have 9,900 more assault rifles in Chicago than the U.S. Marines presently have in Fallujah, Iraq.

So much gun voilence. Maybe up-arming the police is only part of the solution. I'm sure handguns should be banned in Chicago that'll make the streets safer...

Oh wait. They are.

As an idea advanced to the public without a developed plan, the proposal of arming the Chicago PD with military-style M4 carbines should be viewed as a potentially dangerous knee-jerk response to the failure of Chicago government in stopping gang-related violence. Arming rank-and-file police officers with assault-style rifles is an unsettling precedent for American law enforcement, echoing the often-failed police forces of developing nations.

Perhaps instead of up-gunning the police, it is time for Chicago to admit its strict anti-gun laws have failed, and perhaps rescind mandates that only disarm Chicago’s law-abiding citizens in the face of increasing violent criminal activity. Mayor Daley is unlikely to see that logic, however. For him and those like him, guns in the hands of citizens are the problem, not the cure.

And BHO can't be blamed for this, it's not like he did anything to make the situation in his adopted city worse, other than doodle an agreement to even more repressive gun control.

But BHO didn't do anything to make it better...

There I go again, looking at his record and past.


But this increasing the arms of the police does show that for gun control, facts and real solutions are less important than knee-jerk reactions to garner votes and increase control over the citizens.