Chicago’s soft-on-crime prosecutions and a paucity of gun ownership leads to more of the same…

Chicago (Tribune) – Sixteen people were shot in an 11-hour period Monday, including two along a Safe Passage route in the West Englewood neighborhood, according to authorities.

The shootings – from Cragin on the Northwest Side to Roseland on the Far South Side  – left five dead. Those shot ranged in age from 16 to 56. Several survivors were left in critical condition.

11 hours.  16 shot.  5 dead.

Including two on a Chicago Schools’ SAFE PASSAGE route on a school morning!  Do you thing the bad guys involved in that incident just had poor vision and couldn’t see the signs?  Should we make those safe passage signs bigger so bad guys can see them and know Chicago Democrat politicians are really serious about protecting people near those signs?

Florida puts bad guys using guns in violent crime in prison for a long, long time.  Illinois?  Not so much.

We wrote about Florida having the lowest level of firearm violent crime in that state’s history:

Florida enjoys high levels of gun ownership, and  nearly 8.2% of that state’s population of 19.89 million have some form of concealed carry license.

The Sunshine State simultaneously enjoys that state’s lowest recorded level of firearm violent crime.  Ever.

What else does Florida have besides great beaches, lots of sunshine, and lots of good guys carrying guns?

It has a 10-20-Life law when it comes to using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.  In a nutshell, this law imposes additional time in prison for those who use a firearm in commission of a crime.

• If you produce a firearm in the commission of a felony crime, you get an extra 10-years in prison, minimum.
• If you fire your firearm, you get 20-years in prison, minimum, on top of the sentence for whatever felony you were committing.
• If you wound or kill someone with a firearm, the minimum sentence is 25-years in prison and the judge may impose Life in prison.
• It also has a lesser known provision that felons merely possessing a firearm get an automatic three years in prison, no ifs, ands or buts.

Compared to Florida, Illinois has a relative paucity of concealed carry license holders, beaches, warm sunshine (at least for three months of the year) and no 10-20-Life law.

We do have prosecutors and judges who take a very easy-going approach to charging and sentencing violent criminal actors and we have, particularly in Chicagoland, high levels of firearms violent crime.

From Second City Cop, a Chicago police blog:

2 people shot 3000blk of Lexington, car chase with offending vehicle 2 guns tossed out of car (great job of pursuing vehicle to see it and call it out, both recovered), 1 M4 (Editor:  That’s a type of AR-15 rifle) still in vehicle after it crashes near ogden and California, 3 offenders bail and are taken into custody inside the park. Great response by police from 010 and 011 (Editor: Those are police districts in Chicago). 3 weapons recovered from a vehicle and offenders who had just tried to add plenty of extra holes in some not so upstanding citizen (over 20 shots fired from all three weapons). Great case right? Attempted murder? Agg discharge? Multiple AGG UUW (Editor:  That’s Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapons – a class 4 felony punishable by 1-3 years in prison) charges for all involved? Not here in crook county! Each of the passengers only got 1 charge of AGG UUW, and the driver of the shit show only got a charge for AGG Fleeing and eluding. Funny thing is the driver will probably the only found guilty and do any time. Just as the media is calling for more action to stop the violence the beautiful people at Anita’s office (Editor:  That’s Anita Alvarez, the Cook Co. State’s Attorney) are afraid to do their part in putting the bad guys in prison…..

So, in Chicago, three thugs use three guns, including one rifle, to fire 20 shots at a crowd of innocents.  They wound two, get caught by cops after a chase, and are charged with a crime punishable by 1-3 years in prison.  Except for the driver, who is looking at a second, similar class 4 felony punishable by 1-3 years in prison.

In Florida, each of those individuals in the car would be looking at going away for twenty years on top of the sentences imposed for attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and the other charges.  No plea bargains.  No parole.  No early releases.  Just hard time.  Not in Cook County.  In Cook County, they are probably out on bail already.

Here’s yet another example:

A woman in Chicago is in an argument after coming from a nightclub.  She pulls out her pistol and starts shooting at one or more people who she feels has “disrespected” her.

Here’s a video of what happened (NSFW with ghetto language.)

She’s identified.  She’s actually a felon, drunk, who had (illegally) carried her (illegal) gun into a nightclub.  She’s arrested and guess what?  She’s charged with a misdemeanor.

If she had done that in Florida, under the 10-20-Life law, she would be looking at 20 years in prison, minimum.   Add in the charges for actually shooting at someone and she’s out of circulation for more than a generation, protecting the good people of Florida – and those who visit there – from a repeat of her piss poor decision making.  In Illinois, it’s unlikely she’ll be out of circulation, much less prison, unless she gets shot by a fellow criminal, or a good guy the next time she pulls this stunt.

Illinois doesn’t have a gun problem.

Illinois has a criminal justice problem.

Until and unless we get serious about putting violent predators and monsters misusing unlawfully possessed firearms away in prison for a very long time, we will not see Florida’s record low rates of firearm-related violent crime.