For those who think Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's efforts to limit guns are a waste of time and a violation of people's rights, consider the case of Micheal R. Bailey.

At 62, Bailey was a 20-year veteran police officer who was weeks away from retiring.

At about 6 a.m. yesterday, Bailey was coming home from one of his shifts, where he was assigned to guard Mayor's Daley's home, when he stopped outside his own South Side home to clean the Buick he had purchased for himself as a retirement present.

Up to three men approached Bailey in what police say was a possible robbery attempt. Bailey announced he was a police officer and then there was an exchange of gunfire. His son grabbed one of his father's weapons and ran outside after the attack, but it was too late.

"We heard (his daughter) screaming, 'They shot my daddy, somebody shot my daddy!' " neighbor Angelece Cook told the Chicago Tribune.

Bailey's dead body, still clad in his uniform, lay in front of his new Buick. Nearby was a bottle of Windex and three guns, only one of which belonged to Bailey. This is the third shooting death of an off-duty Chicago police officer in the last two months.

The Tribune writes:

On July 7, Officer Thor Soderberg had just gotten off work from a police station in Englewood and was heading to a volleyball game when he got into a struggle with a man who took his gun and shot him. On May 19, Officer Thomas Wortham IV was shot outside his parents' home in Chatham by men trying to steal his motorcycle," the Tribune writes.

In both cases, relatives came to the officers' aid: Wortham's father, a retired Chicago police officer, came out of his home and opened fire on his son's assailants; Bailey's son tried to go after his father's assailants with one of his father's guns.

What does this have to do with gun control?



One of the biggest arguments against regulating guns is that individuals need them for protection. If three Chicago cops, men who were highly trained in the use of deadly force, fell victim to gun violence, what makes people think the average citizen is going to fare any better while trying to use his gun for protection?

In addition, in two of the cases, additional weapons were used to try to intervene. Their use failed to stop tragic and senseless murders in both cases.

To me, the key is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. The only way to do that is to generally limit the availability of weapons. This country produces way more guns than we could ever use. Those guns are sold to people in conflicts in other countries and wind up in the hands of criminals here.

Statistics show that those who own a gun are more likely to be victims of gun violence. That's why Daley's efforts to make it difficult to own a gun in the city of Chicago makes sense.
Daley called the shooting "a tragic, stunning reminder of the senseless violence that stalks too many of our neighborhoods." Another Chicago police officer was gunned down, this time just weeks before leaving a long career of protecting Chicago. It's absolutely outrageous. Our prayers go out to family of officer Bailey. I knew him. He was a good man. He did not deserve this."

Now a guy who loved his job and who was a pillar in his community is gone because of senseless violence. Bailey was only retiring because he had to. Fellow officers jokingly called him "old timer" and said he did not hesitate to school younger officers in the ways of good policing.

Vincent Dove, 32, said Bailey steered him on to the right path.

"Back in high school, I could have gone two different ways," said Dove."He'd tell me that my mom worked too hard for me not to go to school."