"It's Americans OR Democrats" (rander3127@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
) writes:
> Ah, the MIRACLE of northeastern state gun control!!!!
>
> Localrss
> 31 people shot over weekend, at least 6 killed
> Sunday, April 20, 2008 | 5:54 PM
> At least one suspect charged
> By Michelle Gallardo
>
> CHICAGO (WLS) -- By ABC 7 News' count, there have now been 31 people
> shot in Chicago since Friday. Six people have died.
>
> A 12-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those wounded. Authorities
> say the boys were shot about 11:30 p.m. Saturday in the 5300 block of
> West Madison. One of them was hurt critically.
>
> As crews were responding to that shooting, a third person was shot,
> just around the corner. And just 40 minutes earlier, three men were
> shot, less than a block away.
>
> Sunday afternoon, police superintendent Jody Weis again called for
> more common sense gun legislation to combat the problem. Police tried
> to put the numbers in context Sunday and also talk a little bit about
> the measures they are taking to try and stem the gun violence in
> Chicago.
> Story continues below
> Advertisement
>
> The victims of the weekend's gun violence range in age from 12 - 65.
> Police say they include innocents and gang members alike. Of the more
> than 26 injured since midnight Thursday, six have died, including 34-
> year-old Marcus Hendricks and 65-year-old Ricardo Sanchez.
>
> "It is very alarming. I just got back from out of town and to hear
> that number over a weekend, and summer has not hit yet, so we can just
> imagine what the summer is going to look like," said Dr. Sharon
> Latiker, private school superintendent.
>
> Chicago Police Department Superintendent Jody Weis responded to the
> numbers and put them in context compared to the same weekend the
> previous two years. They are, in fact, pretty similar.
>
> "In 2007 during the same weekend period there 19 shootings. Four of
> them resulted in homicides. In 2006 during the same weekend period in
> April there were 21 shooting," said Weis.
>
> To get an even better perspective on the gun violence in Chicago,
> we've taken a look at the number of homicides citywide, most of which
> are gun related. Put into context, it is true that the number of
> murders has declined significantly over the last 10 years, from a
> total of 761 in 1997 to 443 in 2007.
>
> However, compared to the nation's two largest cities, Chicago doesn't
> fare too well. New York had 496 murders in 2007. Los Angeles had 349.
> Both L.A. and New York have significantly larger populations. So,
> pro****tionally speaking, Chicago has a homicide rate 3 times higher
> than New York and nearly 70 percent higher than L.A.
>
> "You just have too many guns and too many gangs and too much drugs on
> the street," said Weis. "I don't really like to compare different
> cities because we can find different ones that will have a greater
> murder rate per capita than Chicago has. I think we need to just focus
> on Chicago and do whatever we can to take the weapons off the street."
>
> Weis also said that the police department is taking certain steps to
> accelerate they usually reserve for the summer months to combat
> crimes. Some of those measures include adding more officers onto the
> street and redistributing their strength to areas that are
> particularly high in gun violence.
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