Thursday, January 24, 2013

Where Do Chicago Crime Guns Come From?

Chicago Sun Times
 via commenter Anonymous who refers to our antagonists as "gunsucks"

You might think the Deep South is the biggest source of the firearms in the hands of Chicago’s criminals.

Maybe you heard about the less-restrictive gun laws in the South or the high-profile cases the feds have brought against gun traffickers moving weapons from Mississippi and other states to Chicago — the Dixie pipeline.


But the truth is most guns recovered in crimes here were originally bought in Illinois.

More specifically, in Cook County.


And the No. 1 supplier of those weapons is just a short drive from Chicago, Chuck’s Gun Store in south suburban Riverdale.


From 2008 to March 2012, the police successfully traced the ownership of 1,375 guns recovered in crimes in Chicago within a year of their purchase.


Of those guns, 268 were bought at Chuck’s — nearly one in five.


That statistic comes from a groundbreaking study by University of Chicago Crime Lab researchers, done at the request of the Chicago Police Department, which is grappling with an extra-violent 2012 that has seen a 28 percent spike in the city’s homicide total compared to this time last year.


In their study, U. of C. researchers combed through gun-trace data to determine the weapons most likely bought by straw purchasers.


Those are people without criminal records who buy guns for felons — often at a hefty markup.

Fifty-eight percent of those recovered guns were bought in Illinois. About 19 percent were purchased in Indiana, 3 percent in Wisconsin — and less than 2 percent in Mississippi.


Cook County was the source of 45 percent of the guns over that period, according to the crime lab’s study.
I used to say the guns probably came from Indiana, but this is fantastic. I'm sure many of the same guys who repeatedly refer to Chicago as proof that gun control fails, knew damn well where those guns come from but just weren't sayin'.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

6 comments:

  1. So you're presented with evidence that gun control laws fail, and all you can say is that my side must have known about this?

    But frankly, I don't care where Chicago's guns are coming from. Chicago in specific and Illinois in general have made legal gun ownership so difficult and legal carry impossible without political connections that they've bought and paid for their violent crime. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.

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  2. The gunsucks tell us, over and over, that Chicago has restrictive laws that stop guns from being bought. But since gunsucks are invariably remarkably stupid, they appear to be unaware of "freeways" or "public transit". In Chicago, you can take the "el" to many surrounding communities, all of which have lax gun laws and gun stores run by criminal gunsuck gunsales persons.

    I have decided to come out from the shadows, BTW. I am no longer anonymous. I am now known as "nickxdanger". If you are knowledgable, you will know my tagline as well.

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    1. and all of these gun stores do background checks as required under federal law, and buyers must show their IL Firearms Owners Identification Cards. IIRC, IL also have a gun registration scheme. So, yes we know about public transit and the "el". Do you know about IL or US gun laws? I'm guessing not.

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    2. Did you hear the part about all the guns traced back to Chuck's?

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  3. But no one keeps the chain of custody, and no one is charged when a straw buyer takes the weapon that he just purchased and sells it to a gang-banger. It is not accidental that there are corrupt sellers like this gunsuck gunrnning supply store. We need to pass laws to close down shops that supply guns to gunrunners.

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    Replies
    1. Look, Comic Book Guy, we already have those laws. Enforce some of the laws that are on the books, and get rid of the rest.

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