By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A weekend march against violence and the appearance of “peacekeepers” on the streets did not prevent Chicago from erupting in violence over the Memorial Day weekend, leaving 11 people dead and 47 wounded, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The weekend was even worse than the same weekend last year, according to WMAQ News. Last year, nine people were fatally shot and 50 wounded. The body count just went higher. The station noted how, in preparation for the holiday weekend, “The Illinois Department of Human Services and Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that the state had planned to send a Citywide Crisis Prevention and Response Unit to Chicago for Memorial Day weekend in an effort to help keep residents safe.” Obviously, that didn’t work out well.
Among the injured were two 2-year-old toddlers.
WLS, the local ABC affiliate, said the oldest victim was apparently 77 years old.
The Chicago Sun-Times called it the “deadliest” Memorial Day weekend in eight years. In 2015, the newspaper recalled, a dozen people were killed on the holiday weekend. In 2016, the Memorial Day weekend saw a total of 71 people shot.
The Sun-Times also noted one woman was fatally stabbed about two blocks from the home of Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The irony of weekend violence cannot be lost, considering there was a march against violence on Saturday in the Grand Crossing neighborhood, the newspaper said.
Incredibly, a single shooting incident at Hollywood, Florida’s Boardwalk was what got the attention of anti-gun California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who tried to exploit the incident in an effort to smear Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the permitless carry law he signed several weeks ago (see related story).
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued a scathing statement about Newsom’s attack, reminding the California Democrat of all the mass shootings which have occurred in the Golden State, despite the strict gun control laws. The gun rights group said California always exceeds Florida in the raw body count of homicide victims.
“Look at any violent crime chart and California always exceeds Florida in the number of homicides,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Newsom can bask in the warm glow of symbolism provided by Everytown for Gun Safety, which incredulously claims California gun policies save lives, even if the numbers disagree. Facts don’t matter to the gun ban crowd.”
According to the website Heyjackass.com, so far this year, Chicago has logged 227 homicides, and 880 people have been shot and wounded.
