by Tom Blair
Columnist

We all know that Chicago is a place where violent street gangs shoot it out dozens of times a week despite some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on guns. But now the city politicians (most of whom carry guns) and anti-gun nuts are facing the possibility of well- meaning citizens being able to pack their concealed pistols legally.

At City Hall, where Chicago’s anti-gun campaign has centered for years, the reaction to concealed-carry legislation has been relatively quiet. The reasons seem to boil down to the fact that the city can do little about stopping the law because a federal appeals court ordered Illinois to end its public possession ban by this summer.

As Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn mulls whether to sign off on eliminating the country’s last concealed-carry ban, the question in Chicago is whether it will matter in the violent city. Will a place that has long had some of the nation’s tightest restrictions on handguns be more at risk? Or will it be safer with a law that can only add to the number of guns already on the street?

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to tell you what is going to happen when Chicago citizens start possessing and carrying handguns. There will NOT really be a lot of difference in the beginning, and once there are thousands of citizens carrying, the robbery and home invasions will decrease. The first year Milwaukee citizens began carrying, robbery went down 17%. The homicide rate didn’t change much, due to gang shootings.

Homicides won’t change considerably, because most shootings are drug and race-gang related. (Armed citizens won’t be getting involved in those areas.) Most significantly for gun-control advocates, the legislation does prohibit guns in places like schools, buses, trains, bars and government buildings, where a lot of shootings occur.

It will be hard for those who commute to work, as it will be nearly impossible to carry, and of course they are going to make it hard to get a permit to carry, with a requirement that people go through only 16 hours of training before they are issued a concealed-carry permit.

Chicago has over 2 ½ million people and over 12,500 cops, and still has had as many as 500 school kids being shot in one year. You can’t even really find out how many shootings there are, because the police classify them into so many different categories, it’s nearly impossible. Even a drive-by shooting isn’t classified as a shooting, unless someone or something is hit. Either way, there will be a lot of families and individuals feeling a little more secure, since they now have a way to defend themselves.

Tom “Road” Blair

Website: www.tomroadblair.com