Holiday bloodshed in Chicagoland highlights the sheer impotence of gun control laws

By Gerard Valentino

The holiday season is supposed to be a time when Americans reflect on the good things in their life and give thanks for the blessings they've enjoyed during the year. In Chicago, however, the holidays are yet another time of murder and mayhem – despite the city administration's anti-gun laws and strict gun-control.

CBS2Chicago.com is again reporting on the violence plaguing one of the truly great cities in the world. We can't forget that Chicago is also one of the most anti-gun places in America, yet this past Thanksgiving weekend it was drenched in blood.

All told, nine Chicagoans died in a bloody weekend that reflects the city's violent past – and present.

From the story:

It was a violent and deadly holiday weekend in the Chicago area, with nine people reported slain between Wednesday and Sunday nights.

The violence began around 5 p.m. Thanksgiving eve, when Shannon Moore, 18, was found lying on the ground with gunshot wounds in the hallway of a building at 537 E. 44th St.

Based on the rest of the report, the death toll reached a staggering 9 lives on a weekend where people should be celebrating – not murdering each other.

On a personal note, I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in the Chicago area with my family and despite the holiday atmosphere, many parts of the city are gripped with fear. Not because of the threat of honest law-abiding people with guns, as Mayor Daley and his anti-gun groupies claim, but because of the never-ending threat of common criminals, thugs and gang-bangers who are the only armed people roaming the streets.

Actually, that's not exactly true, since Chicago's Aldermen have long held the right to carry a concealed gun for their own protection while honest citizens go unarmed. An excellent op-ed by Steve Chapman (http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/23/gun-control-chicago-style) laid out the story perfectly.

Still, the joke has been made many times that armed Aldermen are simply an extension of the armed criminal element, but despite the possible truthfulness of the statement, it isn't really fair.

What is fair, however, is to question why a group of politicians who were rightfully elected by the people of Chicago (or at least as close as you can get to being rightfully elected in Chicago) would have the audacity to disarm honest people while choosing to carry a gun.

The level of hypocrisy in Chicago politics has always been a step above most cities, but this is even startling in the home of the long-feared Democratic political machine (that's not a shot at Democrats, other areas have had Republican machines), and place where voting is seen as a civic duty taken so seriously people continue to vote after they die.

One of the major problems in effecting change in Chicago, which is similar to the problem in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and other older established American cities is that people are jaded and assume their politicians are willing to trample the will of the people without remorse. That jaded attitude allows people like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to flaunt his armed bodyguards while demanding his citizenry go unarmed.

The shame of it is Mayor Daley knows his city is dangerous and that his constituency is at risk. He has long admitted to being incapable of protecting every citizen and blames private gun owners for the carnage - a laughable claim considering private ownership of handguns is heavily restricted in Chicago and, therefore the mere possession of a gun makes the owner a criminal. Daley asserts any gun-related issue in Chicago is a gun crime - a situation that puts Daley and his minions on the city council in the envious position of writing laws that have only one outcome, and then using that outcome to their political benefit.

Unfortunately, however, the complete lack of shame, decency and morality shown by the city Aldermen who carry guns while claiming guns are too dangerous for normal people is beyond contempt, even for Chicago. Other cities would revolt under such an elitist system, yet inexplicably Chicago reelects Richard Daley and the Aldermen, his co-conspirators, in election after election.

There is good news, however, as the tide is turning in Illinois, as police chiefs and sheriff's departments are now openly defying Mayor Daley and pushing the will of the people by supporting legal concealed carry.

For the sake of Chicagoans, the defection of staunch supporters of gun control from just years ago spells-out just how total our victory was for everyone that ever owned a gun. The simple fact is the people of Mayor Daley's ilk, and the Chicago Aldermen are on the wrong side of the gun issue.

But then, they're used to being on the wrong side since they've missed the boat on just about every important political issue over the last 40 years. None of which stops them from continuing their hypocritical ways.

There are two ways to destroy the elitist, hypocritical attitude of Mayor Daley and the Aldermen – vote them out of office, or sue them for everything their worth.

Either way is fine to liberty-minded people everywhere.

Gerard Valentino is the Buckeye Firearms Foundation Treasurer, and his new book The Valentino Chronicles is now available in the Buckeye Firearms Store. A portion of the proceeds from each sale helps fund the Foundation's current lawsuits against the City of Cleveland and the City of Chicago.