Feds In Chicago Bust 23 In Gun-Running Operation

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot delights in telling the whole world that Chicago’s violent crime problem is because of nearby states not having sufficient gun control. In other words, these states lack violent crime on par with a wet sock are supposed to clamp down on their citizens’ civil liberties because of what’s happening in one particular city in a completely different state.

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Lightfoot is like that mother of juvenile delinquents who constantly argues that her babies are good kids that are just being led astray, despite the fact that they’re the ringleaders in the first place and everyone knows it.

Yet, those guns are still getting into Chicago somehow.

Now, with the feds involved in dealing with Chicago’s mess, they’re starting to see some result apparently.

Federal agents made a major breakthrough in tackling gang-related drug- and gun-trafficking operations in Chicago, arresting 23 individuals on Tuesday, including the reputed head of the Chicago Black Disciples gang, in connection with an alleged criminal enterprise that, authorities say, heavily impacted the crime rates on the city’s south side.

“The arrests on Tuesday came after a multiyear law enforcement investigation focused on the distribution of narcotics and guns in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side and other parts of the city, c said in a statement,” CNN reports. “Court documents describe more than 50 transactions in which the alleged gang members sold guns or drugs to people cooperating with law enforcement, according to the statement. Many of the transactions were captured on video.”

“Among those arrested is Darnell McMiller, 34, of Chicago, also known as ‘Murder.’ McMiller is described in the charges as the current leader of the Black Disciples street gang in Chicago,” according to Chicago’s ABC affiliate.

A statement from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois also notes that authorities arrested several other high-ranking members of the Black Disciples, as well as members of the Gangster Disciples, two of Chicago’s oldest street gangs. Charges range from “drug and firearm offenses to — in one case — bank fraud,” per CNN.

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While it’s unlikely these gangs were the sole source of illegal guns in the city, they were likely a big chunk of it. Of course, there will likely be others to step in and fill the gap left–the Law of Supply and Demand is a thing, even in black markets–this does disrupt the flow of guns into criminal hands to some degree.

In fairness to Lightfoot and the city of Chicago, this wasn’t part of Operation Legend. These arrests were going to happen anyway, regardless of whether President Trump and Lightfoot had agreed to cooperate or not, so it’s not related to that operation. Still, it’s a Chicago mess that the feds are having to clean up.

The question is, will we see a resulting change in Chicago’s violent crime rate?

My money says we won’t. At least, not for a long while. Not because this won’t have an impact to any degree, only that enough criminals have guns already that we’re unlikely to see anything correlate for weeks or months to come, if at all.

The report makes no mention of how the gangs got their firearms in the first place, but rest assured that they all involve some degree of lawbreaking to begin with so Lightfoot’s calls for other states to enact Illinois-style draconian gun control measures won’t have had any kind of a real impact.

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