Between Friday and Sunday this weekend, Chicago witnessed what has become its almost expected tragic surge in gun violence, with at least 31 people shot and five fatalities. The violence underscores a simple fact: the city doesn’t have a gun problem, it has a crime problem, more pointedly, it has a gang crime problem. And this point is made even clearer since Chicago is in a state with some of the most stringent gun control laws anywhere.

ABC7 Chicago reports among the victims was a 5-year-old girl, Danae W. Razor, who was shot while sitting in a parked vehicle on the city’s West Side. This incident occurred around 3:32 a.m. on Sunday in the 200 block of Campbell Avenue. She was struck in the abdomen and later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.

In another tragic event minutes earlier, a 28-year-old man was fatally shot on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Christiana Avenue. The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain unclear, and no arrests have been made in either case.

Further adding to the grim tally, three people were critically injured in a shooting on Sunday night in the Roseland neighborhood. The victims, standing outside, were shot at by two assailants who fled the scene. They were taken to hospitals in critical condition.

These incidents reflect the broader trend of escalating violence in Chicago, where, despite comprehensive gun control laws, the murder rate remains alarmingly high. Illinois residents must obtain a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card, undergo extensive background checks, and comply with numerous other regulations, including bans on “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines, a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases and red flag laws. Cook County, which encompasses Chicago, has additional restrictions on firearms.

Nevertheless, these measures have not curbed the violence. Breitbart reports over 180 people have been killed in Chicago since the beginning of 2024. This weekend’s violence brings the total number of shooting victims even higher, highlighting the ineffectiveness of the current gun control policies in preventing such tragedies.

Pro-gun advocates argue that the focus should shift from imposing more restrictions on law-abiding citizens to addressing the root causes of violence and ensuring that criminals face stringent consequences. The failure to prevent such violence despite extensive regulations suggests that alternative approaches are necessary to improve public safety and protect innocent lives in Chicago, chief among them incarcerating repeat offenders and enforcing laws already on the books…not creating more laws.

Look for our man, John Boch, TTAG’s chief contributor from the Land of Lincoln to expound more on this insanity later this week.