Gun control in America has become quite the heated debate in recent topics.  There has been an influx of unjustified shootings and innocent people losing their lives.  On one side of the argument people claim that all weapons no matter the size or function should be banned.  On the other, the ownership of weapons should be allowed, however there is typically stipulations involved.  Through my research, I attempted to gain insight on the issues of violent crime in Chicago and specifically the problems with illegal possession of firearms.   I was able to speak with a few stakeholders on the issue.  The main consensus I gathered was, if bad people will do bad things, no matter the laws, why should you not be able to protect yourself?

In order to set the tone for violence in America, we must understand some of the statistics.  The definition of mass shootings varies from agency to agency and does not have clear cut clear classification.  The same goes for mass killings, but typically it is recognized as the death of 3 or more people in a given event.  Just this year, there have been over 500 mass shootings in the United States.   To bring the crime numbers closer to home, Chicago is one of the most dangerous cities in the country, with over 2000 reported shootings, resulting in over 500 murders homicides just this year (CompStat). 

Illinois, and Chicago in particular, have some of the strictest gun laws in the country.  So why are the laws not working?  I met with Mr. Harris, a member of a group in Chicago, dedicated to reducing gun violence, to get some insight.  The group he is involved in does regular community outreach, they talk to people in the inner-city area of Chicago in order to deter the use of guns and the lifestyle of organized crime.  They also hold community events with area police to promote gun buyback programs and offer youth programs to give kids opportunities to grow and deter a life of crime.  Mr. Harris explained that almost all of the shootings he is aware of, are carried out with an illegally purchased gun.  This is confirmed in an article by WTTW News, reporting nearly 10,000 illegal firearms have been recovered this year alone (Masterson).  Mr. Harris revealed that kids as young as 10-12 years old are walking around the city carrying weapons.  Mind you, you need to be 21 to legally purchase a gun in Illinois.  He shared that most of the violence is also gang related, stating that they do not care about the law and will find a way to circumnavigate it at every turn, for financial and personal gain.

Another person I had the pleasure to speak with was Mrs. Compton, the mother of Alphonso, who died, too soon, due to gun violence.  Alphonso, A.J., was involved with a crime-oriented lifestyle and was shot on the street on the southside of Chicago.  Mrs. Compton talked about young A.J., involved in sports and was an honor role student, that started to hang around with the wrong group of people.  She told me how she would catch him partaking in illegal drugs and even caught him with a gun in her home.  She relayed, that he and the people he was involved with routinely carried guns of all sizes and she was almost positive none were purchased legally, especially because most had felony convictions and were under the legal age.  Mrs. Compton had a difficult time retelling the stories about A.J. after he went astray.  She liked to remember him as the kid in the picture frame on the mantle in his high school basketball uniform. She told me about all the effort she went through to keep him away from the gang life, their involvement in the church and community.  He loved to play basketball from the time he was able to walk.  He played on his high school team and routinely went to the park after school to play pick up games. Unfortunately, Alphonso’s story is one of hundreds in this area. 

Once I was able to get an understanding of the levels of violent crime that effects the area directly, I wanted to know more about the gun laws currently in place and if they are really protecting us?  When I hear of a mass shooting, such as the most recent one in Maine, my first thought is, what if one or two or three of the patrons in that bowling alley had a legal concealed carry permit and their weapon in their possession?  If such patron existed, how many lives could have been saved?  We have established that guns can easily be purchased outside the views of the law and possibly may be purchased within.  However, circumstances change, peoples, mental states vary multiple times throughout the day, some swings can force people to “snap” and want to hurt others.

I contacted Illinois State Trooper Pendleton, to talk about gun laws in the state.  There has been a recent debate over what types of firearms and accessories should be legal in Illinois and across the country.  Just in the last 12 months, Illinois has instituted and “assault weapons” ban as well as high-capacity magazines.  The claim is that a semiautomatic “assault weapon” allows a shooter to fire rounds faster resulting in the capability to inflict more harm.  Trooper Pendleton walked me through what this ban entails and how the state plans to enforce it.  He impressed me with the list of weapons he was able to rattle off from memory.  We also talked about the topic of automatic weapons and ones modified to fire multiple rounds fast.  Trooper Pendleton explained, a ban on automatic fire (hold the trigger down for firing of multiple rounds) weapons, is already in effect and has been for quite some time.  However, there are stipulations, such as possessing a Federal Firearms License (FFL) or ATF approval, typically, these are very long and expensive processes that deter your average gun buyer.  We also spoke about concealed carry licenses, Illinois has a very cumbersome process that entails 16 hours of classes and Illinois State Police (ISP) approval.  He described how Illinois only acknowledges a few other states’ licenses, whereas our is accepted throughout most of the country.

Trooper Pendleton and I, unfortunately, also spoke about school shootings.  I say unfortunately because this is something that should absolutely never be able to happen.  This is an absolute fear of mine, as a father of 2 young boys.  One of the situations we discussed was the shooting in Uvalde.  It took the officers nearly 80 minutes to intervene with an active shooter in an elementary school in Texas.  After a lengthy discussion on police in schools and whether or not school staff should be able to arm themselves, we concurred the biggest piece to gun ownership is training.  We concurred, there needs to be extensive, documented training before owning a gun.  This seemed to be a failure in the Uvalde shooting.  The police were not trained correctly, they were not prepared, mentally, to handle that type of situation.  We also concurred that there should be someone in the school during all operating hours, who is trained to handle a situation of that magnitude.  He enlightened me to the idea because there is no travel time to the call or questions as to who is going to be the first on scene and how they will act. To bring this training back to regular citizens, Trooper Pendleton talked about the FOID process and legal gun purchases in Illinois.  There is no training required, anyone without a criminal or mental health history can buy a gun. 

I did not want this study to tun into the argument of constitutional rights or hunting.  This is commonly an argument presented by the pro-gun side of the argument.  They say that due to the second amendment of the constitution, we should be allowed to own guns, without government oversight as to what kind or what purpose.  Also, as far as the argument that the weapons are used for hunting, typically, hunters use single fire rifles instead of semi-automatic or handguns.  These single fire types of weapons are commonly agreed to be safe enough to own.  While in certain circumstances, constitutional rights and hunting cases can sound like a good argument, I wanted to veer away from that and focused on the crime and training issues in the country.

I chose to talk about gun control because the thing that is most near and dear to me, is my family.  I am a legal gun owner and if the situation arose that I was put in a life-or-death situation to protect myself and/or my family, I would not hesitate to use them.  I have also taught my wife and my oldest son how to use them.  I believe mischief is one of the most dangerous things for a child.  If he knows that the guns are there and he is not allowed to touch it, it will drive desire to handle them even more.  On the other hand, if he knows that he is allowed to, under supervision, it takes that curious edge off.  He understands the dangers and results of mishandling, as well as the consequences.  This is how I can contribute to the training and safety of gun usage, just in my home.  The statics do not lie, there are dangerous people in the world, and I refuse to not have the ability to protect myself.

“CompStat Week 45.” Chicago Police Department, home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/1_PDFsam_CompStat-Public-2023-Week-45.pdf. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.

Compton, Lorna. Personal interview. 23 October 2023.

Harris, Jassear. Phone interview. 18 October 2023.

Masterson, Matt. “Shootings, Homicides in Chicago Continue to Decline through September: Police.” WTTW News, news.wttw.com/2023/10/04/shootings-homicides-chicago-continue-decline-through-september-police. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.

Trooper Pendleton, Donald. Personal interview. 21 October 2023.