The news: In March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments over Chicago’s gun-ban case, deliberating whether the Second Amendment applied to state and local laws.
Behind the news: Between Jan. 1 and April 3, 847 weapons violations were recorded in Chicago, according to a Chicago Reporter analysis of data from EveryBlock, which compiles crime statistics obtained from local law enforcement agencies.
A firearm or ammunition were involved in 707 of those violations. The West Side neighborhood of Austin had the most violations for any community area with 66 violations–” 35 of which were for possession of a handgun.
The South Side neighborhoods of Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, New City and West Englewood had a combined total of 156 violations. North Side community areas with 50 percent more residents–”Lakeview, Lincoln Park, the Near North Side and North Center–”had only 14 violations.
John Hagedorn, a professor at the department of criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said there won’t be a noticeable difference in the number of weapons violations regardless of the outcome of the case.
To see a difference at the city level, he said, guns would have to completely disappear. Short of that, people will continue to find ways to get and use guns.
“Fewer kids won’t die if the law gets affirmed. Fewer kids won’t die if you double the amount of gun confiscations,” he said. “If people in the community see police with guns, then why would they get rid of their guns?”