CHICAGO – Despite being home to the nation's toughest gun laws, the city of Chicago has drawn national attention for its ongoing gun and gang violence. A shooting Thursday afternoon at Chicago restaurant left four people dead.
Police say the shooting may have been in retaliation after a pregnant woman was found earlier in the day shot and dead in a nearby apartment.
The Illinois chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, blamed "weak gun laws" in surrounding states – specifically Indiana and Wisconsin.
"As documented in a report last June by Everytown and the National Urban League, weak gun laws in nearby states are one of the factors contributing to Chicago’s gun violence," a Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense statement release Thursday afternoon said.
The group said three in five guns recovered at Chicago crime scenes were first sold in other states, according to a 2014 trace analysis by the city and the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The top out-of-state suppliers according to the analysis were Indiana, Mississippi and Wisconsin – none of which require a background check for every gun sale.
Volunteer spokesperson Brenna O'Brien called for laws to clamp down on guns in surrounding states.
“Our thoughts tonight are with each of the families who are grieving. Too many families, in Chicago and across the country, have lost a loved one to gun violence, and their grief should push all of us to do everything that we can to address this crisis," O'Brien said.
"We have to do more to close the gaps in our country’s gun laws and to stop the tide of guns making their way to Chicago from states that don’t require background checks for all gun sales.”
Neighboring states continue to hold firm in protecting their citizens' Second Amendment rights to the dismay of gun control groups like Moms Demand Action.
