The DOJ’s “Operation LeGend” program is now officially underway in Chicago, Illinois, and we’re already seeing the first charges as a result of the surge in federal law enforcement on the crime-plagued streets of the city. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois announced on Friday evening that a trio of Chicago residents have the “honor” of being the first arrested under the auspices of the multi-agency operation.

Darryl Collins, 30, of Dolton, is charged with one count of illegal possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. Romeo Holloway, 21, of Chicago, is charged with one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Collins and Holloway were previously convicted of criminal felonies and were not lawfully allowed to possess a firearm or ammunition. Darryl Phillips, 22, of Chicago, is charged with one count of illegal possession of a machine gun.

The three are being held in federal custody.

As we reported on Friday, gun control groups have been criticizing the deployment of federal agents to cities like Chicago, Kansas City, Albuquerque, and other metropolitan areas that have seen a sharp increase in violent crime over the past couple of months. According to anti-gun activists like Kris Brown of Brady, what’s really needed are more gun control laws aimed at legal gun owners, not more prosecutions of individuals who are illegally in possession of a firearm.

Let’s be clear, unleashing federal troops into our cities will not solve gun violence. The solutions — stronger federal gun laws, lifesaving funding for violence interruption programs — are sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk. We’re not falling for this desperate show of dominance. https://t.co/N7uT7ITVza

— Kris Brown (@KrisB_Brown) July 22, 2020

With gun control activists like Brown slamming the Trump administration for their crime-fighting initiative, they’re also getting crosswise with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who’s actually backing Operation LeGend.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who earlier had threatened to go to court to block President Trump from deploying unnamed federal agents in Chicago without her permission, said she supports the expansion of Operation Legend, noting the additional agents coming to Chicago will be overseen by Lausch, a friend of Lightfoot’s for more than 20 years.

Despite Lightfoot’s support for the surge, gun control groups were so eager to prove their progressive bona fides that they went ahead and attacked the DOJ operation anyway. Do they really believe that turning legal gun owners into criminals will reduce violent crime in the city? Of course not. Still, they’d rather you and I be arrested for possession of a 20-round magazine or a legally purchased AR-15 instead of watching criminals get hit with federal felonies for illegal gun possession.

It’s clear that activists like Brown aren’t anti-crime, they’re anti-gun. Their main concern with Chicago’s crime rate is whether or not they can use it to push for more gun control laws, not whether the violence in the city can be addressed without putting more gun laws on the books.

If Operation LeGend is a success it will be a disaster for Brady and groups like Moms Demand Action, because it completely obliterates their argument. Their objective isn’t safer streets, it’s putting more laws on the books. Anything that gets in the way of achieving that objective has to go, and the more effective the operation, the more hysterical the anti-gun activists will become. Operation LeGend is off to a good start in Chicago, and that’s bad news for anti-gunners everywhere.