While data shows nearly 200 more people have been shot this year in Chicago than last year at the same time, Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot claimed during a Friday press conference that “crime is on the decline.”
This year in Chicago, 1,587 people have been shot, according to the most recent data from the Chicago Tribune. Likewise, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times indicate a surge in violent crime. Last week, the Sun-Times reported that Chicago has seen 317 homicides compared to 302 at the same time last year. Chicago had 775 homicides in 2020, according to data compiled by the Sun-Times, a 55 percent spike from a year prior. Still, Lightfoot has attempted to conceal this reality to the public and tell them the opposite.
“All of our major indices show a decline in our crime, and our homicides and our shootings year over year are down,” the mayor said on Friday.
A reporter asked whether “off-the-charts violent crime in the City of Chicago” is leading to business closure and what Lightfoot thinks about the notion she has “lost control of the city.”
“The premise of your question, which is it’s chaos everywhere, the fact of the matter is, sir — which you also didn’t point out, but I will so we get this straight — is we’re actually seeing a decline in homicides and shootings, yes sir,” Lightfoot replied.
This past weekend was Chicago’s bloodiest of the year, with shootings leaving 63 people injured and three dead, in the state that became the first to abolish cash bail in February. On Monday, Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown told reporters at a press conference that criminals are being let loose and are then committing additional crimes. Brown also said illegal firearms are leading to the crime spike.
“The answer is too many guns, too many illegal guns in the wrong hands, and too little consequences for illegal gun possession,” Brown said. “Number two, too many violent offenders released back to our communities here in Chicago. And too little consequences, ultimately, for violent offenders who are arrested, charged, and brought before the courts.”
Even though Brown laid out why Chicago is being ravaged by crime, President Joe Biden aligns with the Lightfoot camp. The White House unveiled a plan last week to supposedly curb violent crime but blamed gun laws and not enough job opportunities for minorities.
Just as the White House claimed a trip to Guatemala would address the “root causes” of the flow of migrants through the U.S.-Mexico border, it invoked the same rhetoric with domestic crime.
“This strategy implements preventative measures that are proven to reduce violent crime, and attacks the root causes — including by addressing the flow of firearms used to commit crimes,” the White House said.
