In the wake of a weekend of mayhem that left a dozen people dead and scores wounded, Fox News has reported that anti-gun Democrat Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel “is facing a mounting political crisis with his rivals emboldened as they aim to unseat him in the looming mayoral election.”
Many want him to resign. Others are prepping to vote him out.
Ten people have lined up against Emanuel, who once worked in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. His challengers have, according to Fox, “slammed the prominent Democrat for the city’s soaring crime and blamed him for everything from an understaffed police force to a lack of investment in Chicago’s economically downtrodden neighborhoods.” Depending upon to whom one listens, Emanuel may have it coming.
Chicago’s body count so far this year has surpassed 325 and it is heading higher. While it is down from this time last year, it almost seems like gangs and street thugs are determined to make up the shortfall.
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The City-Journal noted that, “Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan recently celebrated the issuance of a 232-page draft consent decree for the Chicago Police Department, possibly the longest police consent decree ever written.
“Among numerous other red-tape-generating provisions,” the story said, “it requires the CPD to revise its protocols regarding ‘transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals,’ to make sure that the CPD policies properly define these terms and that officers address intersex, transgender, and the gender non-conforming with the ‘names, pronouns and titles of respect appropriate to that individual’s gender.’ Last Thursday, a so-called anti-violence march shut down Lake Shore Drive to demand that the CPD hire more black officers and that City Hall spend more on social programs in the black community. Few voices, in other words, are tackling the actual cause of Chicago’s violence: the breakdown of the black family structure and a demoralized police department.”
With all this violence, Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson have told city residents to “Step up.”
But how do they do that without the means and tools to fight back?
The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association have filed lawsuits against the city. SAF prevailed over the city’s gun ban at the U.S. Supreme Court with the 2010 McDonald ruling. SAF also sued the city with local resident Rhonda Ezell over the hastily-written gun ordinance. When two lawsuits, one by SAF and the other by NRA, forced Illinois to adopt a concealed carry statute, city officials did everything possible to resist rather than adapt to the new guidelines, critics have argued.
Johnson did say something worth noting. According to Fox News, after telling people to get in the game, the top cop had this observation: “I hear people holding us accountable all the time but I never hear people saying ‘these individuals out here on the street need to stop pulling the trigger.’ I never hear that. It’s the same individuals that continually commit those crimes. Where is the accountability for them?”
As increasing numbers of law-abiding Chicago citizens legally purchase firearms and obtain carry permits, it might just be that this elusive accountability is just over the horizon.
And if voters have truly had enough of Emanuel as their mayor, whatever happens may come under a different administration.
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