Chicago is moving swiftly to enact measures that limit access to guns within its borders after the Supreme Court ruled that individuals have a right to own a gun for self-defense no matter where they live. The ruling opens up court challenges to local gun laws across the country.
While the ruling is being celebrated by gun rights advocates, it is a disheartening sign to cities around the country like Newark, N.J., Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York, where it's not uncommon for dozens of people, including innocent bystanders, to be shot or killed in a single weekend. A few weeks ago, 54 people were shot in Chicago during one bloody 48-hour period. At least 10 of the shooting victims died.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said he will enact other measures to limit guns in his city, including limiting each resident to owning a single handgun, prohibiting gun stores in the city and requiring gun owners to purchase insurance.
The Supreme court has not ruled that "a person is entitled to more than one handgun," said Chicago's Corporation Counsel Mara Georges. "And one handgun is sufficient for self-defense."
David Workman of the Bellevue, Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation, said that owning a gun "is a civil right and you can't limit a civil right."
Cities like Chicago must act on the gun control issue because the federal government has failed to protect the citizens who live there.
An individual's right to own a gun is not more valuable than my right not to get shot in the head by a stray bullet while I'm sitting on the porch with my kids. Self-defense is an overrated argument since most people with guns in their homes have ahigher chance of falling victim to gun-related homicide.
If a U.S. president were to go rouge and try to turn this country into a dictatorship, militias armed with handguns will be no match for the best-funded and best-armed military in the history of human kind.
That's why the argument that everyone should have access to guns free and clear has never made sense to me. While people argue over the Second Amendment, thousands of black and brown children are being slaughtered in the streets. Suburban kids who are teased are shooting up their classrooms. Thousands of people are using guns to end their lives. The evidence shows they might not have taken that path if highly lethal firearms were not so readily available.
We are the most well-armed nation in the world and are no safer because of it. Places like Japan see very few gun-related murders. President Obama needs to step up on this issue. People in his hometown are being murdered every day.
Instead of just banning guns, this country should end its production of hundreds of thousands more guns than the demand in this country calls for. We are arming criminals and arming the rest of the world, too..
"I don't think there is anything that is more dangerous than a firearm in the hands of someone that has no training and no ability and no knowledge," said. Chicago Alderman Fredrenna Lyle.
25-June-10 - Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski is getting heat from Republicans for making comments that sound like he doesn't respect black people.
25-June-10 - Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski is getting heat from Republicans for making comments that sound like he doesn't respect black people.
22-June-10 - If you think that Sarah Palin and her Tea Party followers only endorse white Republican wing nut wackjobs, you're wrong. Sometimes she endorses black Republican wing nut wackjobs.
21-June-10 - The children's grandmother and legal guardian, Katherine, recently had a sit-down with U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail and revealed some heart-tugging facts about how her grands (Prince, 13; Paris, 12; and Blanket, 8) still grieve the loss of their famous dad.
18-June-10 - Angela Lowe, the widow of R&B singer Sean Levert, who died suspiciously six days after being jailed back in March 2008, has settled her lawsuit against Cuyahoga County in Ohio and the umbrella company that oversees medical care at the jail.
16-June-10 - I know I'm supposed to be all outraged about the Seattle cop punching the teen in her face because I'm black and stuff like that, HOWEVER, I don't know whether it's because I'm a jaded '80s baby tired of young people's lack of respect for authority or I'm just insensitive, but I think the girls in this video absolutely deserve what they got.
15-June-10 - Jarretta Hamilton is angry and unemployed. The 39-year-old teacher was fired last April because she had sex before marriage and wound up pregnant. Now she has broken her silence and has gone public.
12-June-10 - I am not quite sure what to make of the ruffled YouTube video that is now scouring the web out of Paterson, New Jersey, where an officer inexplicably grabs a man, turns him around and puts pepper spray in to his eyes twice.
11-June-10 - Indianapolis Police Chief Paul Ciesielski called for the firing of a white officer who's been charged with repeatedly striking a 15-year-old biracial boy in the face during an arrest. The attacks allegedly occurred after the boy had been subdued by other officers.
09-June-10 - Gary Coleman's ex-wife, Shannon Price, is up to her post-hubby's-death antics again. As if masterminding the sale of Coleman's pre- and- post-death photos wasn't enough, now the merry widow has managed to get in to Coleman's home and take practically everything that wasn't bolted down! Click Here for the Complete Story
09-June-10 - Todd Bridges, who co-starred with Gary Coleman on the popular sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes,"is livid about both Globe Magazine's and Shannon Price's involvement in Coleman's death photos.
Daly's attorneys aren't too bright. They don't know that "arms" is plural, they do not under stand the simple legal term "SHALL NOT", and they don't understand the constitutional law term "fundamental right". They are going to be taught the hard way, at the city of Chicago's expense, in court.
"Guns don't kill people, people kill people." I don't own a gun, and I'm not in favor of them,but this statement is absolutely correct.
"Outlaw guns, and only outlaws will have them." Also correct.
These people that commit murders would do so with whatever means are available,whether it be with a knife,a machete,or a baseball bat if guns weren't there.
Mass killings(Colombine/VTech)are not common, and do much less damage than the example given of 54 killings in just 48 hours in Chicago.
The problem is not what these people have in their hands,it's what they have between their ears that must change.
I think most people on the outside looking in feel the same as I do when they hear about some thug killing some other thug, who cares?
I feel sorry for the innocent bystanders that get caught in the crossfire,but this is a free country,you don't have to live in these unsafe neighborhoods. Move.
The only thing the gov't should abolish is public housing. Level the ghettos and disburse the occupants out amongst the rest of the population and the death rates would go down. Believe me,not everybody would tolerate this kind of behavior. Misery loves company.
Don't let your child be in a gang. If gangs control the streets where you live,move. Stop looking to the gov't to control your life,and get a grip on something besides a gun.
Lets look at the words. ON THE STREETS. The vast majority of citizens shot or killed, are on the street. Victims in their homes are hit by stray gunfire by someone shooting on the street. Lets make the streets safer. Police should aggressively patrol all neighborhoods and especially Gangland. Pull these ba@#$%&s over and relieve them of their weapons. That is YOUR job! The law is on your side. Protect the citizens. If you have to kill these thugs to get their guns so be it!.(just make sure their armed) Let the gangbangers parents take responsibility for their hooligan children. after they are caught, the parents names should be published so we know who they came from.
Everyone says let the cops go in and get the thugs and if you let them just kill each other its a done deal. If thats how they want to live so be it. BUT WHEN THE COPS GO ON AND ARREST BY ANY MEANS NECCESSARY TO CLEAN UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND MUST PROTECT TEMSELVES AGAINST THESE HEARTLESS b THE FAMILIES WANT TO SUE THE CITY. SO , YOU MAKE THE CHOICE IF YOU WANT YOUR AREA CLEAN YES SO SO AND SO'S BOY JOINED AND HE MAYBE BURIED. YES, THE NEIGHBORS KID THUG SO AND SO MAY HAVE BEEN AND GOOD KID LAST WEEK BUT NOW HE IS OUT THEIR IN A GANG SHOT 20 TIMES. WE NEED TO ACCEPT THAT PEOPLE MAKE CHOICES AND IF YOURS MADE THE WRONG THEY WILL DIE BY THE FATE THEY CHOOSE.
You have Ronald Reagan and Ollie North to thank for the illegal gun use when they started the "Crack" epidemic and running guns on American Streets to gang members and stupid negros shooting one another and little innocent children.
Judy Lynn Clark only your mamma and father own the planes and boats that bring the drugs into the US. Black Americans do not own no drug planes, and they can't bribe law enforcement or the judges. White Americans like you are destroying this country with drugs, polluting the enviroment, and murdering peoples under the guise of spreading democracy. By the way it was Whites that caused the oil catastrophes
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Comments: (6)
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By: James Johnston on 6/30/2010 6:14PM
Daly's attorneys aren't too bright. They don't know that "arms" is plural, they do not under stand the simple legal term "SHALL NOT", and they don't understand the constitutional law term "fundamental right". They are going to be taught the hard way, at the city of Chicago's expense, in court.
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By: steve on 7/01/2010 7:31AM
"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."
I don't own a gun, and I'm not in favor of them,but this statement is absolutely correct.
"Outlaw guns, and only outlaws will have them."
Also correct.
These people that commit murders would do so with whatever means are available,whether it be with a knife,a machete,or a baseball bat if guns weren't there.
Mass killings(Colombine/VTech)are not common, and do much less damage than the example given of 54 killings in just 48 hours in Chicago.
The problem is not what these people have in their hands,it's what they have between their ears that must change.
I think most people on the outside looking in feel the same as I do when they hear about some thug killing some other thug, who cares?
I feel sorry for the innocent bystanders that get caught in the crossfire,but this is a free country,you don't have to live in these unsafe neighborhoods. Move.
The only thing the gov't should abolish is public housing. Level the ghettos and disburse the occupants out amongst the rest of the population and the death rates would go down.
Believe me,not everybody would tolerate this kind of behavior. Misery loves company.
Don't let your child be in a gang. If gangs control the streets where you live,move. Stop looking to the gov't to control your life,and get a grip on something besides a gun.
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By: jllerrad on 7/01/2010 9:01AM
Lets look at the words. ON THE STREETS. The vast majority of citizens shot or killed, are on the street. Victims in their homes are hit by stray gunfire by someone shooting on the street. Lets make the streets safer. Police should aggressively patrol all neighborhoods and especially Gangland. Pull these ba@#$%&s over and relieve them of their weapons. That is YOUR job! The law is on your side. Protect the citizens. If you have to kill these thugs to get their guns so be it!.(just make sure their armed) Let the gangbangers parents take responsibility for their hooligan children. after they are caught, the parents names should be published so we know who they came from.
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By: Skeewee on 7/01/2010 9:33AM
Everyone says let the cops go in and get the thugs and if you let them just kill each other its a done deal. If thats how they want to live so be it. BUT WHEN THE COPS GO ON AND ARREST BY ANY MEANS NECCESSARY TO CLEAN UP THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND MUST PROTECT TEMSELVES AGAINST THESE HEARTLESS b THE FAMILIES WANT TO SUE THE CITY. SO , YOU MAKE THE CHOICE IF YOU WANT YOUR AREA CLEAN YES SO SO AND SO'S BOY JOINED AND HE MAYBE BURIED. YES, THE NEIGHBORS KID THUG SO AND SO MAY HAVE BEEN AND GOOD KID LAST WEEK BUT NOW HE IS OUT THEIR IN A GANG SHOT 20 TIMES.
WE NEED TO ACCEPT THAT PEOPLE MAKE CHOICES AND IF YOURS MADE THE WRONG THEY WILL DIE BY THE FATE THEY CHOOSE.
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By: Judy Lynn Clark Ferguson on 7/01/2010 9:11AM
You have Ronald Reagan and Ollie North to thank for the illegal gun use when they started the "Crack" epidemic and running guns on American Streets to gang members and stupid negros shooting one another and little innocent children.
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By: SteveLC on 7/01/2010 9:39PM
Judy Lynn Clark only your mamma and father own the planes and boats that bring the drugs into the US. Black Americans do not own no drug planes, and they can't bribe law enforcement or the judges. White Americans like you are destroying this country with drugs, polluting the enviroment, and murdering peoples under the guise of spreading democracy. By the way it was Whites that caused the oil catastrophes
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