In Chicago Politics Examiner. This guy gets it:

The ballyhoo over the Supreme Court’s recent decision that declared Washington DC’s handgun ban

unconstitutional, and therefore implied the same for Chicago, didn’t last through the holiday. Unfortunately, neither did five poor souls who fell victim to gun violence in downtown Chicago during the long weekend.

Again proving (is it possible to prove something twice? Three times? A thousand times? Perhaps I should say, “Again confirming”) that gun bans do exactly jack schizzle.

“Why should our streets be open to someone carrying a gun?” Daley remarked after the Supreme Court handed down the ruling. “Do [people] have a right to carry a gun on the CTA?” Daley’s theatric rant blamed the rich and the powerful for protecting themselves but not the poor. “Those who are rich always feel safe … those who are in power always feel safe.”

Daley is such a shit-for-brains. Firepower is a great equalizer. It doesn’t pay attention to your societal class, your religion, ethnicity, or anything else that normally separates you from fellow human beings. You could be rich or poor, big or small, a physical specimen or handicapped - if you have that one tool at your disposal when you are threatened, all of those labels and differences are thrown out the window.

But after the violence this past weekend, Daley must face a stubborn fact: handgun bans don’t actually prevent people from committing violence with hand guns. Handguns are illegal in Chicago, and yet on July 4th, four people were shot by handguns as they walked home from the fireworks display in Grant Park. Moreover, it is entirely likely these hand guns were brought to the fireworks show on CTA transportation. Fitting isn’t it.

Broken Record Time: Criminals don’t give a crap about the law. Gun bans are laws made to be broken by those who don’t care.

This is not unusual, in fact. Every day, innocent people in Chicago are killed by hand guns despite the ban. Chicago reported 442 homicides in 2007, according to Wikipedia. And yet, Daley would have us believe the law is keeping the “poor” people safe.

Just like the same laws in DC are keeping all of those nice unarmed people safe. At least you can call 911. You know … after the gunshots go off.

Of course, Daley could step up enforcement. He could put an officer armed with an assault rifle on every corner of the city. But still there would likely be some incidence of illegal gun violence. He simply doesn’t have the power to control human behavior, no matter how much prohibition is enforced. Banning anything only drives it under ground.

We certainly should not be irresponsible with guns. But we shouldn’t run roughshod over our constitutional rights in support of laws that embolden politicians but don’t do much for public safety.

Daley would do better to focus on things that are within his control, like the safety issues on the CTA.

Awesome.