‘Gun Control Capital’ Marks 500th Shooting Homicide So Far In 2017

Popularly dubbed the “gun control capital of America,” Chicago counted its 500th homicide for 2017 According a running tally kept by the Chicago Tribune the threshold was reached following a deadly weekend in which 10 people were killed and 31 others wounded in shootings. NBC News Chicago reports the city police records as of September 17 counting only 490 homicides; with the disclaimer that Chicago PD’s statistics “don’t include killings on area expressways, police-involved shootings, self-defense killings or death investigations. Last year, Chicago recorded its 500th homicide in late-August in what would become the city’s bloodiest in decades. According to the Tribune, the number of homicides is down seven percent from this time last year. However, indicating a strain on the city’s resources to effectively control the gangs responsible, in June, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff, announced the use of a mobile ballistics lab being operated by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in the city to help process ballistic evidence at crime scenes. One local resident interviewed referred to the gang violence believed responsible for this past weekend’s deaths, commenting “It’s never over.”