Chicago top cop says pro-Second Amendment pols hurt public safety Published February 18, 2013
FoxNews.com
- Chicago Police Commissioner Garry McCarthy says lawful gun owners can be a threat to public safety. (AP)
Facing a surging homicide rate and several headline-grabbing murders, Chicago’s top cop is taking aim at the Second Amendment, according to critics.
Appearing on a local Windy City Sunday morning talk show, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said gun owners who lobby politicians or donate money to pro-gun rights political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety.
McCarthy, whose city – despite having some of the toughest gun laws in the nation - saw more than 500 homicides last year for the first time since 2008, also said the Second Amendment limits citizens to owning smooth-bore muskets.
Critics were quick to fire back. Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said McCarthy missed the Founding Fathers’ point.
“Garry McCarthy ’s understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation’s third largest police department,” Pearson said.
McCarthy in the past has blamed “government-sponsored racism” and Sarah Palin for Chicago’s gun violence. He has been outspoken in his opposition to handgun proliferation, telling a radio panel last month he equates fewer guns with improved public safety.
“When people say concealed carry, I say Trayvon Martin,” McCarthy said, referring
to the Florida teen who was shot and killed last February by a neighborhood watch volunteer, sparking controversy across the country. “I say Trayvon Martin because the answer to guns is not more guns, and just simply putting guns in people’s hands is going to lead to more tragedy.”
McCarthy backs banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring background checks for anyone who buys a gun, mandatory reporting of the sale, transfer, loss or theft of a gun and and mandatory minimum prison sentences for people convicted of illegally possessing a gun.
In January, some 43 people were gunned down in Chicago, making it the deadliest January in the city in more than a decade. One of the victims was Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old high school student who performed as a drum majorette at President Obama’s inauguration just days before being shot in a park.
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