By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
In a city with one of the toughest gun regulations in the nation, the homicide body count in Chicago hit 500 with three days remaining in 2012.
According to the Chicago Tribune, victim No. 500 was identified as 40-year-old Nathaniel T. Jackson, gunned down outside a grocery in the Austin neighborhood. It is not clear why, but a gunman apparently walked right up to him and put a bullet into his head.
It has been four years since the Windy City chalked up this many slayings, and despite a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that forced the city to end its 28-year ban on guns, the city has adopted one of the most restrictive firearms ordinances in the nation, and people continue to die.
Barely has a weekend gone by without multiple shootings and slayings in Chicago, and Jackson – a Chicago native – was simply this year’s milestone murder victim.
According to the newspaper, Jackson did time in prison for robbery. He had previously been shot in the back, also following a stretch behind bars, the Tribune reported, but this time around he did not survive and nobody can understand why he was shot.
The newspaper recalled that early in the year, Chicago saw a spate of killings. Statistically, homicides are up about 17 percent over 2010, and shootings are up 11 percent, although it remains difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain handguns.
