By Mark Rhoads -
There are many reports that show homicide rates in general have gone down in recent years but that is no comfort to the families of 262 people who have been shot in Chicago during May and the families of 36 people who have died for a rate of more than one fatal shooting per day. A great majority of victims are African Americans and so are a majority of the killers. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel still seems to be very confused about why the murder rate is so high.
Emanuel seems to think the murders are due to a lack of gun control laws and yet very few legally-owned guns are used in these horrible crimes by criminals who break the law routinely. If the Mayor would take an honest look at his own failures in leadership, he might stop trying to scapegoat legal gun owners and work harder at helping the police and public keep the peace in their own communities. I have never owned any firearm or used one since my Army service 40 years ago. But common sense tells me that the protections granted to all citizens by the Second Amendment are are not to blame for Chicago's miserable murder rate and it is time for Mayor Emanuel to stop waging war on common sense.