GANGLAND, USA: Anti-gun Illinois has two of nation’s six most gang-infested cities

Hey, good news!

Illinois and our strict gun control laws (and Governor Pat Quinn’s early prison release program) has made a perfect breeding ground for gangs in the state.  So much so that Illinois has not one, but two of the six* most gang-infested cities in America.

Congratulations to all of those government “leaders” who continue to actively work to disarm the law-abiding while twiddling their fingers as criminals run roughshod over the people!

From the story:

*(The cities on this list are, by and large, in no particular order as concluding the number of gang members per city is widely inaccurate and some more recent studies are incomplete. Furthermore, statistics are based upon municipal law enforcement agencies, the FBI and CDC gang information.)

#6:  East St. Louis

As anyone who has driven through East St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri’s brother in Illinois can attest, it’s not a pretty picture. There is no wonder that gangs have built themselves such a nice home in the city where, apart from a street named after current President Barack Obama, seems to be completely forgotten by the rest of the country. The city is one of America’s most violent, and the murder rate in East St. Louis is 17 times higher than the national average. And the murder rate is only going to keep growing as violent street gangs vie for turf almost completely unchallenged by a law enforcement agency that saw its budget decrease by over 33 percent between 2008 and 2011. Welcome to the city of 27,000 where a police officer was shot in the face in a shopping mall, and which the Governor of Illinois called an absolute “war zone.”

and coming in at #1:  Murder City, USA!  CHICAGO!

In recent years Chicago has made a dramatic leap to overcome Los Angeles as America’s gang capital with a staggering 150,000 gang members and become one of the most violent cities in the country. In fact, Chicago recorded 413 murders in 2013 alone, a shocking number, if it weren’t for the fact that it actually represented a decrease from the 532 murders in Chicago in 2012. What’s worse, according to city law enforcement agencies, 80 percent of all shootings and murders in Chicago are gang related.

Again, like most major cities in the United States, economic hardship on the municipality has led to budget cuts and less law enforcement patrolling the streets. There are barely 200 members of Chicago’s anti-gang task force. How can police possibly contend with hundreds of different gangs all operating within the city, primarily the west and south sides, with such little resources? Exacerbating the problem is that the historical hierarchy of the Chicago gangs has seemingly come undone, with various factions of former larger gangs all claiming territory, and clearly willing to shoot first at anyone unfamiliar who may be encroaching on said territory. Even a member of the street gang the Vice Lords himself told NBC news that “there is no one to control this, so it has become haywire.”

Chicago has become a massive and violent play for territory in a powder keg of gun violence, fuelled by the drug trade. Murders for the current year stand roughly similar to last year, at 206 thus far, but after the 84-hour outburst of violence over the 4th of July weekend in which 82 people were shot, and 14 killed, the situation in Chicago seems far from stable.