Anti-gun Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel should shoulder some of the blame for his city’s on-going bloodbath because his policies are leaving citizens defenseless against the violent criminal element, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
Emanuel, former chief of staff for President Barack Obama – who adopted Chicago as his home town – has “perpetuated the draconian anti-gun policies of his predecessor even after the Supreme Court ruling in 2010 essentially nullified the city’s ban on handgun ownership.”
“Rahm Emanuel has some blood on his hands,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed. “He and the city council have done everything possible to prevent law-abiding Chicago residents from exercising their restored Second Amendment rights in the two years since the Supreme Court’s landmark McDonald ruling. They have stalled, dodged and road-blocked efforts to bring sanity to the city’s restrictive gun regulations, all in an effort to discourage citizens from arming themselves against criminal violence.
“And what does the city have to show for it,” he mused. “So far this year, all Chicago can offer as a measure of its gun policy effectiveness is a body count of more than 435 people, which is more than all of last year. It is despicable that the city under Mayor Emanuel continues to envelope honest citizens in bureaucratic red tape while it is clearly unable to curb the violence.
“It is time for Emanuel and his council cronies to stand aside and let citizens have the tools to fight back,” Gottlieb stated. “The high court made it possible for Chicago residents to exercise their right to have a firearm for personal protection. The city under Emanuel has adopted an anti-gun strategy to deliberately thwart the court’s intentions.
“Mayor Emanuel, like his former boss in the White House, doesn’t have a plan that works,” he said. “Since he seems unwilling to follow the court’s wishes, and appears unable to lead his city out of despair, perhaps he should just get out of the way and give his citizens a level playing field against violent criminals.
“Emanuel’s failed policies show that elections have consequences,” he concluded. “That’s something to consider as his former boss is looking at a second term, during which he might try to take these policies to a national level.”
