The more I think about it, the more I believe that the good residents of the city of Chicago have found the perfect way to celebrate America’s birthday, which is to get out there with their guns in the streets of the Windy City and mow everyone down.
After all, what’s more uniquely American than the 2nd Amendment? And the 2nd Amendment says that every red-blooded American is entitled to own a gun.
And by the way, the 2nd Amendment doesn’t say that I have to possess a license to own a gun. It also doesn’t say I have to be of a certain age to own a gun. So why is everyone always making such a big deal about ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ guns?
I think we need more, not less Americans to behave on July 4th the way that Chicago behaved on America’s birthday when 17 people were killed and another 87 were wounded with guns.
And don’t think there wasn’t plenty of competition from other cities whose residents decided to celebrate July 4th in this same, uniquely American way.
In Cincinnati, two teens shot each other dead and three other teens were wounded when an argument between two kids turned into a gunfight because they both were carrying guns. In New York City, the weekend shooting toll was at least 25 victims. All in all, the holiday weekend running from July 2nd through July 4th may have produced 500 shooting victims countrywide, including at least 145 who ended up dead.
Every year the TV news always starts its coverage of the July 4th celebration by talking about the crush in airports and on highways because the ‘holiday travel’ story is a demonstration that the country is alive and well. It was particularly an important story this year because it was a reminder again of how we are finally getting out from under Covid-19.
But maybe next year the media might want to consider starting off the holiday weekend coverage with a screenshot of a couple of kids cleaning and loading their guns or shooting at some old tin cans in the back yard. And then the story can always bring in some idiot who brags about how he never leaves home without his gun because he has the God-given ‘right’ to defend himself from all those ‘thugs’ in the street.
Now that the weekend has ended, we will for sure be treated to the other notable American tradition, which will be a noisy argument about what kind of laws we should pass to keep Americans from killing each other in this uniquely-American way. Other countries don’t share this tradition because they already have laws that keep guns not just out of the ‘wrong’ hands but out of everyone’s hands.
Incidentally, the numbers I stated above about how 145 out of 500 shooting victims died over the weekend has to be a serious undercount of the total who got shot. There’s simply no way that the guys who banged away this weekend have practiced enough to kill only one out of three persons who got shot. I’m willing to bet that the overall holiday shooting toll will be more like 700 or 800 victims, if only that.
For those among you who are concerned about this penchant we seem to have for killing each other with such abandon and evident delight, is that the July 4th holiday only comes once a year. Which means that beginning next weekend, the number of people who get killed and wounded with guns can drift back down to 300 gun murders and assaults – the normal weekend rate.
In 2019, less than 4% of all the victims of gun violence were under 14 years old. The reports from this past weekend, however, seem to indicate that younger kids are now engaged in gun violence both as victims and shooters of guns.
There’s nothing like getting the next generation ready to share in a traditional way of life, right?
Jul 06, 2021 @ 13:30:57
Mike always blames the guns instead of the Criminals, and the NRA instead of the NWA murdering people in Chicago…
..And yet, he STILL owns all of those guns AND a lifetime membership….
Idk about the other four people who waste time reading these columns, but niether the acts of Criminals, nor the antigun opinions of a bloviating hypocrite pull much weight with me (the average lawful and safe Gun owner) when it comes to Constitutional Rights.
…Then again, I’ve never had a negligent discharge…So, maybe I’m not his target audience.
Oh well, oh well…..
Jul 07, 2021 @ 11:49:00
The other 4 people who read my column? Don’t you mean the other 400 readers that I get most days?
Jul 06, 2021 @ 16:29:13
July 4th holiday only comes once a year, but don’t worry we still have Labor Day coming in September.
Other countries don’t share this American tradition because they already have laws that keep guns not just out of the ‘wrong’ hands but out of everyone’s hands. If we could be more like some of these countries. Maybe like Mexico, a country that has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. Or maybe a country like Honduras who have implemented tough gun control laws. How’s that working out for them?
Other countries don’t have a foundation like this one. In the words of James Madison “the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
We just need more people to tell us how to live our lives. And don’t worry, we’re here to protect you.
L E T ‘ S P A S S A N O T H E R L A W
Jul 06, 2021 @ 18:09:26
It is now being reported by CBS Chicago that “At Least 100 People Shot, 18 Killed, Across Chicago Over Independence Day Weekend.” Superintendent Brown, Chicago Police Department, is saying that it’s the courts who are to blame.
This just goes along with what I’ve been saying and posting on mikethegunguy website for years…it’s the system. The problem is the court system, the judicial system, the family service system, the school system, the correctional system, etc. But let’s go after the “low hanging fruit”…the gun. Afterall the gun is easy money for those who do research, and claim to be the experts on violence.
Today Brown made a statement to the news media saying there have been increases in homicides in some of Americas ‘big cities.’ Most of those cities identified by Brown have some of the toughest restrictive gun laws in America. And who are the leaders of those ‘big cities?’