Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insists that the reason murder is on the rise in his city is Donald Trump's refusal to spend billions of dollars on "gun violence prevention" programs across the United States, including in the Windy City. The biggest problem with that argument is that Chicago is an outlier, and homicides are down by nearly 20% this year nationwide.
Johnson doesn't want to talk about things like Illinois' SAFE-T Act, which puts many violent offenders out on the street without having to post any bail, or the law that requires judges to include the time a defendant spent on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial to count as part of any sentence they might receive. He definitely doesn't want to talk about the fact that nearly 10% of Cook County defendants who've been placed on electronic monitoring cannot be located, or the fact that the vast majority of non-fatal shootings in Chicago do not result in an arrest.
But Johnson has a plan to make Chicago safer, even if Donald Trump won't lavish the city with grants for "gun violence" intervention programs. He's going to defeat the gangbangers, carjackers, and random robbers through the power of bureaucracy.
Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Thursday that begins the process of creating a permanent city department focused on reducing gun violence.
The executive order creates the Office of Gun Violence Reduction inside the Mayor's Office. The new office will oversee violence prevention programs, help victims of violence and coordinate safety efforts across city government.
The order also lays the groundwork for a permanent Department of Gun Violence Reduction, which would still need City Council approval.
This is truly groundbreaking... so long as you ignore existing effortrs like the Mayor’s Office for Community Public Safety or the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
Johnson says the new Office of Gun Violence Reduction will bring violence prevention programs currently spread out across various agencies under one roof.
Oddly enough, though, the Mayor's Office for Community Public Safety is also meant to "[c]oordinate operations of the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department, Office of Emergency and Communications, Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Police Board, Office of Public Safety Administration, and the Community Commission for Public Safety Accountability."
The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, which is another department in the city of Chicago, is also tasked with advancing "effective alternative approaches to public safety" beyond law enforcement, which is code for "community gun violence intervention" programs.
As I've repeatedly stated, I'm not opposed to violence intervention programs that are transparent and accountable. I think they're a much better solution than passing gun control measures that restrict the ability of citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Johnson's executive order doesn't create any new programs, and it's not meant to ensure accountability or even impose any kind of metrics of success on the non-profits who are largely funded through grants funneled through City Hall.
This is meant to give Brandon Johnson political cover for his inability to make Chicago a safer place. In all fairness, Johnson's not the only one responsible for the rising crime in the city. But Johnson isn't standing up to progressives like Gov. J.B. Pritzker or getting tough on the repeat, violent offenders who are fueling Chicago's crime, Johnson is a big part of the problem, and his new Office of Gun Violence Reduction is hardly the solution that Chicago residents need to feel safe in their community. My advice to them is get trained, get your carry license, and be ready to protect yourself instead of depending on Mayor Johnson and his merry band of bureaucrats to keep you safe from harm.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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