A verbal disagreement that turned into a physical altercation ended up with four people taken to Chicago hospitals over the weekend, including a concealed carry holder who reportedly fired on multiple attackers in self-defense. 

Police were called out to a home in the city's Belmont Cragin neighborhood around 11:30 Friday evening, only to find a chaotic situation when they arrived. 

Chicago police said the victim, a 43-year-old man, was in front of his home when an argument ensued with three men who began attacking him. The victim, a concealed carry license holder, pulled out a handgun and shot all three men. 

Neighbors say the victim lives next door to the men who allegedly attacked him and that the altercation happened during a party. 

Video from the scene shows multiple people on stretchers being taken away by paramedics and a large response from Chicago Police.  

A weapon was recovered at the scene.  

All four men were taken to hospitals in critical condition.

The victim suffered blunt-force trauma to the head and body and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition.

The three suspects who allegedly attacked the armed citizen were also listed in critical condition at last report; two of them with gunshot wounds to the chest and one man who was shot in the neck. Chicago police haven't said anything to indicate the concealed carry holder was acting unlawfully when he pulled his gun. To the contrary; by all accounts the armed citizen was acting to protect himself after his assailants jumped him. Having a firearm may very well have made the difference between the man going to the hospital and being taken to the morgue.

The shooting on Friday night was one of at least three incidents involving licensed concealed carry holders in the city over the weekend, according to Block Club Chicago.

The second shooting involving a concealed carry holder this weekend happened about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. A 34-year-old man was walking to his car in the 3700 block of North Spaulding Avenue in Irving Park when three people got out of a black car with guns drawn and demanded the man’s car keys, police said.

The man pulled out his gun and shot at the car, and the robbers took off, police said. There were no injuries reported.

At 12:50 a.m. Sunday, a 50-year-old man was trying to break into a house in the 8100 block of South Champlain Avenue when a homeowner fired shots at him, police said. The man was shot in his back and was taken by paramedics to University of Chicago Hospital, where he was in critical condition, police said.

The homeowner who opened fire is a registered concealed carry license holder, police said.

The official statistics from the Chicago PD shows a slight increase in violent crimes in the Windy City this year, though homicides are down about 14% compared to 2023. Aggravated assaults like the one that happened on Friday night, however, have jumped by almost 5%, and aggravated batteries have increased by 7.9% as well. 

The gun control laws in Illinois are just as ineffective as they've ever been, but at least the Democrats who completely control the levers of state government haven't managed to eradicate the right to bear arms, even in strongholds like Chicago. Last year almost 110,000 Illinois residents applied for their carry license, and there are tens of thousands of Cook County residents with valid carry permits. 

Chicago doesn't make it easy for residents to get their carry license. There are no gun stores or ranges within the city limits, forcing those who want to exercise their right to bear arms in self-defense to head to the suburbs to purchase a gun and to receive the 16 hours of mandated training before they can apply. 

Despite all of the barriers the city has placed between the citizens of Chicago and their inherent Second Amendment rights, officials haven't been able to curtail the right to carry in the Second City. Too many residents know full well they're safer carrying a firearm than venturing out unarmed for the right to fade away organically. If anything, the number of legally armed residents is growing... as are the number of defensive gun uses in Chicago.