This morning four people were shot on Chicago’s “Blue Line” subway near Forest Park. All four were confirmed dead.
Forest Park is a suburb of Chicago in Cook County 10 miles west of the city.
Police have not released the suspect’s name. He said a 911 call was received just before 5:30 a.m. and responding officers found four victims. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and one died in hospital while being treated.
The suspect fled and was arrested. The suspect was found on another train line, the Pink Line, with a firearm.
Weapons are not permitted on any property owned by the Chicago Transit Authority. The transit area is a “gun free zone” in Illinois.
Just four days agoThe Chicago Transit Authority is bragging about its extensive use of security cameras and anti-gun technology to ‘spot’ and ‘detect’ guns.
Chicago is one of the most gun-hostile jurisdictions in America. In general, Chicago tried to ban all handgun ownership.
Illinois state law specifically prohibits the possession of guns on any property owned by a public transportation agency.
Anti-Gun groups like the Everytown/Brady Center group ranks Illinois as #3 in the nation for “strength of gun laws” meaning how hostile it is to gun ownership.
The anti-gun group Giffords Law Center gave the State of Illinois an “A-” for the degree to which it restricts gun ownership and possession. The Giffords Center is named for former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head by former Quiznos employee Jared Loughner in Tucson in 2011.
Police said the shooting in Forest Park was an isolated incident, even though Chicago has seen a dramatic increase in violent crime.
Violent crime was reported in Chicago at its highest level in a decade, even as arrest rates dropped.
This is alleged to be part of the lax-on-crime policy of most of the main left-wing elites in power, specifically prosecutors and judges who release violent criminals without bail being required.
Illinois waives all bail as a condition of release in criminal cases. That means, if someone is charged with a quadruple murder, they can be released while waiting for the trial to begin.
In Illinois, as of September 18, 2023, defendants are no longer required to post bond to secure their release. That is, there is no guarantee that they will show up at their upcoming court date if they are accused of a crime. On the left is the “Pretrial Fairness Act” when marketing the policy, such as this policy paper by the John Podesta-affiliated Center for American Progress.
Left-wing groups have changed Illinois law to allow judges to release people on serious charges before trial if they are deemed not to be a current risk to the public.
The only recourse for a judge when a defendant fails to appear is to issue a “failure to appear” warrant. Left-wing groups claim that if an Illinois judge hasn’t issued the warrant, the defendants will have to appear in court. There is no structural penalty for not appearing on a warrant, other than being arrested and brought to court again. Previously, the judgment eliminated the nominal value of the bond, which created a strong financial incentive for bail bondsmen to produce the defendant before the scheduled court date, and also for the defendants to appear or risk losing significant money.
Incidents like this also show the degree to which gun bans create an unarmed population that can be victimized by bad actors.
Guns & Ammo magazine ranked Illinois as 41st among states with gun laws, indicating that it is very hostile to gun ownership.
Statistics show that Illinois has one of the highest rates of gun ownership per capita in the country, at 27.8%.
Defensive Gun Use is measured in the social sciences as the occurrence when a gun is typically brandished by a potential victim to prevent an attack. The rates studied vary between 500,000 and 3 million, with other studies saying the rate is in the 1.5 million range.
Laws and anti-gun culture in Illinois likely contributed to, and exacerbated the tragedy, by disarming victims in known gun-free-zones.
