After Chicago’s murder toll surpassed 500 in 2012, the bloodshed continued in 2013 at a rate of more than one killing a day. It was the deadliest January in more than a decade, reports the Associated Press. It’s no longer an only-in-Chicago story about violent street gangs. They are almost a Sandy Hook Elementary School attack unfolding in slow motion. Both gun-rights and gun-control advocates cite the city’s woes, one side to push for greater access to guns for self-defense, the other to seek greater restrictions on gun sales.
“You’ve got these two philosophies that are butting heads, and they’re butting heads in the biggest city in the middle of the United States,” said David Workman, of the Bellevue, Wa.-based Second Amendment Foundation. “And both sides are holding up Chicago as a punching bag.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says: “If gun control works, Chicago ought to be safe.” Meanwhile, President Obama, a gun-control supporter, mourned the death of Hadiya Pendleton, the promising teen who was shot to death Tuesday as she talked with friends after school in a park about a mile from Obama’s Chicago home.