Cities and Crimes Go Hand in Hand

According to Al Jazeera USA, Chicago had suffered through just another weekend of gun related deaths. Chicago had been gripped with 22 shootings that had injured around 31 people and had actually killed three people. On the Fourth of July this year, even more people were shot, resulting in around nine people dead and at least 60 injured from criminals using firearms. There were approximately 414 murders in just the last year in Chicago. These crimes have caused the governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, to create even stricter gun laws. This call for harsher gun laws is absolutely ridiculous because obviously harsh gun restrictions only allow criminals to obtain firearms and law abiding citizens are left with almost nothing to defend themselves. Chicago is not the only city facing massive amounts of crime. New York City has had around one murder every day, while Guatemala City suffers approximately 17 murders every day. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had even gone to Guatemala City and attempted to aid in the reduction of crime there. It is reported that crime had even gone down by 63 percent, but some of the techniques used became criticized due to racial profiling and harsh tactics. Burlington, Vermont has also taken steps to solve the crime in their city, but they too have followed the bandwagon of Illinois. The City Councilor Norm Blair proposed a bill to ban "assault weapons" and "high capacity" magazines. Blair has stated, "if someone was not a convicted felon and was walking through our thoroughfare and had an AK-47 slung over his shoulder, there's nothing we could do about that." Ironically, this statement is incorrect. The police would have the right to stop the person in question and ask if they had a carry permit. If the suspected person had such a permit, then they would legally be allowed to carry the firearm, no matter what it is (unless the ban on "assault weapons" passed). Oddly enough though, Burlington's firearm crime comes mostly from handguns, not rifles. The problem with cities is that there seems to be a lack of common sense when it comes to firearms and crimes. If the law abiding citizens have the ability to protect themselves with firearms, then crime would be mitigated greatly.