Chicago Pols Should Listen To Their Constituents

The gun-grabbers don't listen to conservatives, the National Rifle Association, or even the United States Supreme Court. In their zeal to blame guns for the ever-increasing violence in Chicago, they don't even listen to their own constituents. The Democratic leaders and their liberal supporters still cling to their belief that if only guns were outlawed, the deaths in Chicago would magically cease. But the citizens of Chicago don't believe it anymore.

In a recent poll conducted by Illinois pollster Michael McKeon in Chicago, the locals blamed easy access to guns as the main cause of the spate of violent deaths by a whopping six percent. Yes, you read that right—six percent. Now there's a headline you're not going to see in the Chicago Tribune. Despite all the hype from former Mayor Richard M. Daley, current Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the Rev. Jesse “Increase the Peace” Jackson, Chicagoans are still capable of separating the wheat from the chaff.

It is such an article of faith for politicians like Emanuel that guns are the cause of violence that he can't even be bothered with addressing the true underlying causes. He is too busy trying to keep the evil folks at Chick-fil-A from coming into town. Rahm: Stop talking and start listening. Here's what your electorate thinks about the accelerating murder-by-gun root causes (aren't Democrats supposed to be deeply concerned about root causes?):

20% blame gangs.
13% blame lack of parental guidance.
12% blame lack of economic opportunity.
8% blame it on the need for more police officers.
7% blame “young people having nothing to do.”
6% blame easy access to guns.
(the remaining 34% blamed various causes at a rate less than 6% or had no opinion)

Even if you add gangs (with guns) and young people (with guns) to guns (alone), you still have only 33% of the population of Chicago blaming guns for the murder rate. But 100% of Chicago Democratic politicians and liberals blame the guns rather than the people using them. Jesse Jackson correctly identifies most of the victims of the violence as black, but is somewhat silent on who most of the perpetrators are. It's easier to blame guns than admit most of the perpetrators are also black. Says Jackson: “Far more African-Americans are killed on our streets than on foreign battlefields. If a foreign foe took these lives, we would mobilize armies and armadas to stop them.” Like Emanuel, Jackson is ignoring the opinion of the 60% who think gun violence is a symptom, not a cause.

Let's get the racist element out of the racial calculation. The numbers in the urban war zones are largely African-American. But it's not from some innate black tendency toward violence. It is covered rather by the “root causes” that the Chicago citizens listed (37% of whom are African-American), and which are encouraged by Democratic/liberal policies—government-dependence, the disintegration of the black middle class and the black family unit, welfare incentives, ungodly high unemployment rates among black youth, and over-tolerance of misbehavior based on white guilt stemming from past racist policies.

The simple fact is that Chicago continues to have some of the toughest gun-ownership laws in the nation, and yet remains a leader in gun-related violence. Chicagoans have figured out that outlaws don't care about gun laws (or any laws, for that matter). More restrictive gun laws won't solve the problem in Chicago. Respect for law will. Enforcement of laws already legitimately on the books and in accord with the Supreme Court Second Amendment rulings is the strong right arm of respect for the law. As long as law-abiding citizens are restricted in their ownership of guns while outlaws are not, the violence in Chicago won't end. Chicagoans have figured that out. The Chicago politicians haven't.