The village of Oak Park, IL, which is one of the few municipalities that still has a handgun ban, continues to suffer gun related crime at the hands of criminals who ignore the handgun ban. As a result, only the law abiding citizens are disarmed, leaving them more vulnerable to the still-armed criminals:
Shooting
As reported, a 27 year old woman who resides on the 1100 block of North Austin had an argument with her boyfriend, who lives in Chicago. At about 9:15PM, the woman was standing in Oak Park at the corner of Division and Austin when her boyfriend allegedly drove by and shot her in the lower abdomen. The woman suffered non life threatening injuries, and underwent surgery at Loyola Medical Center. The alleged shooter has a previous felony conviction for aggravated battery with a firearm, and was on parole at the time of the shooting, meaning that he allegedly broke quite a few federal and state laws by even having a gun and carrying it, much less the alleged shooting of his girlfriend.
Armed Robbery
As reported, a man taking trash out to the curb in front of his home on the 300 block of N. Euclid was attacked by two men. As one man stood in front of him, the other criminal tackled the man from behind and removed his wallet, which contained $300 in cash, plus his credit cards. When the victim yelled for help and his daughter came to the front door, one of the men displayed a dark colored handgun. The criminals then escaped.
Handgun bans don’t work
Perhaps no one has told the criminals in Oak Park that handgun ownership is punishable by up to a $1,000 fine for the first offense, or $2,000 for subsequent offenses? Or perhaps handgun bans just don’t stop crime? I’m going to bet that the criminals are aware of the handgun ban, but are choosing to disobey it, just as they disobey the laws against carrying a concealed handgun in Illinois, armed robbery, possession of a gun by a felon, and shooting people, etc. Since they aren’t deterred by those severely punished felonies, the fine for violating the Oak Park handgun ban certainly won’t stop the armed robbers or those bent on shooting their significant other.
Instead, the handgun ban just deters abiding citizens from owning a gun, since they don’t want the embarrassment of being fined and having their name appear in the local newspaper’s crime section. These law abiding citizens are then left defenseless, making them easier target for crimes such as robbery and home invasion. I sincerely hope that the Oak Park handgun ban is soon struck down in court, so that Oak Park’s law abiding residents can defend themselves the way that these people have defended themselves against criminals.
Shows that gun bans are stupid and that OAK PARK is run by a bunch of stupid liberal jerks