Michael Norton was a 55 year old man, who ran a convenience store on Chicago’s West side. He ran the store for about 35 years, and was a fixture in the neighborhood. He was known for helping his tenants and others in the neighborhood. He sponsored some of them at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and was well liked. Back in 1991, a pair of armed criminals threatened his life and tried to rob his store. Norton fatally shot one robber in self defense, and wounded the other, saving himself and taking a pair of criminals off the streets. Norton also stood up to drug dealing gang members, working to get them evicted from the apartment above his store. The evicted gang members are said to have threated to kill Norton in response. Last week, Norton was found murdered in the rear of his store. His hands were bound, and he was shot in the back of the head. Police believe the incident was robbery related, while friends and family believe it may have been the work of the evicted gang members. Police believe that Norton’s assailants may have sneaked up on him while he was locking the store.
Going on the police theory that Norton was outside, locking up his store when robbed, the need for concealed carry becomes apparent. As his past self defense history showed, Norton was more than capable of using a gun to defend himself against criminals while inside his store. However, the state of Illinois bans concealed carry, meaning that Norton could not legally carry a gun as he left his store. As a result, Norton was defenseless at the time he was murdered. On the other hand, the criminals who murdered and robbed Norton had no qualms about breaking the law, and carried guns – which they used to end the life of an upstanding citizen.
This tragic case is the embodiment of all that is wrong with gun control. It fails to disarm criminals, and only ensures that the law abiding members of society are unable to save themselves from those still-armed criminals.