Another Tragic Milestone Passed as Chicago Records 700th Homicide of 2016
12.2.2016
CHICAGO – Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today responded to reports that the city of Chicago recorded its 700th homicide of 2016.
There have been nearly 4,050 people shot this year in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune, and the vast majority of Chicago homicides are committed with guns. As documented in a June report on urban gun violence by Everytown and the National Urban League, weak gun laws in nearby states are one of the factors contributing to the problem.
Three in five guns recovered at Chicago crime scenes were first sold in other states, according to a 2014 trace analysis by the city and the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The top out-of-state suppliers according to the analysis were Indiana, Mississippi and Wisconsin – none of which require a background check for every gun sale. Illinois is one of 18 states that go beyond federal law and require background checks on all handgun sales. Nevada will become the 19th state with such a law next month, after voters approved a background checks ballot measure there in November.
STATEMENT FROM PAMELA BOSLEY, A MEMBER OF THE EVERYTOWN SURVIVOR NETWORK, PART OF EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY, WHOSE 18-YEAR-OLD SON TERRELL WAS SHOT AND KILLED AFTER LEAVING A PERFORMANCE AT THE LIGHTS OF ZION MISSIONARY BIBLE CHURCH IN APRIL 2006:
“I am lost for words and outraged about the violence in our city. No one is safe from this violence. My heart truly goes out to all of the families who will never see their loved ones again because of Chicago’s violence. Unfortunately, I know this feeling all too well from when my innocent son Terrell was shot and killed on grounds of a church on the South Side of Chicago ten years ago, grounds that should have been safe. It is a sad and scary time in our city.”
STATEMENT FROM TANJA MURRAY, VOLUNTER CHAPTER LEADER FOR THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA:
“My heart goes out to the families in Chicago who have had a loved one senselessly murdered by gun violence. We won’t stop speaking out, not when Chicago families are grieving and not when guns are flooding our city streets from states that don’t require background checks.”
Additional facts about gun violence in Chicago and 29 other large cities in the U.S., and case studies of antiviolence programs, are available in the 2016 report Strategies for Reducing Gun Violence in American Cities.