Progressive politicians and pundits have often highlighted the tragedy of mass shootings in their quest to implement new gun control laws, but daily gun violence in urban settings across the nation has typically garnered far less media attention.
In Chicago, for example, dozens of individuals were shot — about a dozen of whom were killed — in separate incidents over the course of just a few days.
Days of continued gun violence
According to reports, 12 people were shot, including two fatalities, in an eight-hour span between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the Windy City.
Aside from local media reports, however, there has been little mention of the violent gun crimes by national media or gun control activist groups.
As WLS-TV reported, at least a dozen individuals were shot between Tuesday at 9 p.m. and Wednesday at 5 a.m. in various parts of the city.
The first of two fatalities involved a 16-year-old male who was struck multiple times during an apparent drive-by shooting while he stood in the front yard of a home on Tuesday evening. The boy reportedly suffered injuries to his head and arms and was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived at an area hospital.
In a second fatal shooting just before midnight, two men, ages 33 and 38, were reportedly approached on a sidewalk by unknown assailants who opened fire on them. The 33-year-old was shot in the back and pronounced dead after he was rushed to the hospital while the other victim survived with a gunshot wound to his leg.
Bloody Easter weekend
Those shootings followed a bloody Easter Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Of 16 individuals shot that day, two were reportedly killed.
Seven of the non-fatal shootings were part of one single incident, meeting the common requirements to be classified as a “mass shooting.” Since the gunfire erupted from a fight and no one died as a result, however, the national media apparently decided to largely overlook the violent crime.
An earlier Sun-Times report chronicled violence over the Easter weekend — from Friday at 5 p.m. until Monday at 5 a.m. — during which 34 people were shot, including eight who died as a result of their injuries.
A surge in gun crimes and homicides has been reported across the U.S. over the past year, prompting President Joe Biden and others on the left to point to gun sales as a primary culprit and new restrictions as a possible remedy. The president announced executive action on the issue this week, targeting unregistered firearms and calling for new avenues by which to prevent potentially dangerous individuals from obtaining a gun.
Whatever the underlying causes, each of these shootings is a tragedy that deserves fair media coverage and honest political debate over steps that could stem the violent tide.
The post Dozens of shootings, multiple deaths reported in Chicago over course of several days first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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