Tragic: 15 shot as Chicagoans host 'Put the Guns Down' events; The NRA is to blame how?

Watching Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel kick off his “Put the Guns Down” initiative was supposed to inspirational, but it turned out to be a wholly disheartening spectacle. Twenty people had been shot in the city the night before, and Emanuel, dogged by protesters who wanted police to put their guns down, wearily announced his hope that the city could go more than 24 hours without gun violence.

On the positive side, handfuls of Chicagoans did start the long holiday weekend by hosting “Put the Guns Down” events, and don’t tell the ACLU, but prayer played an integral role.

Come out and support the Chicago neighborhood today!!! We must put the guns down!!! #PutTheGunsDown

— Calvin Swinger (@CalvinSwingerJr) May 27, 2016

Superintendent Johnson holds a sign for Unity in the Community at a Faith & Action event in Austin. #putthegunsdown pic.twitter.com/H4MCps40ee

— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) May 28, 2016

Praying to God for PEACE in the city on 59th & Halsted. #Chicago #Peace #PutTheGunsDown #MakePeaceHappen pic.twitter.com/I7B35z8Fwn

— Chris Butler (@Christhecitizen) May 28, 2016

Thank you to everyone who organized last night's #PutTheGunsDown events! We will continue to stand against violence pic.twitter.com/GiWEH2lEUK

— Archive: Mayor Rahm Emanuel (@MayorRahm) May 28, 2016

We’re sorry to report that not everyone got the message. The long holiday weekend stretches through Monday, but as of Saturday afternoon, at least three had been reported shot and killed and 12 more injured by gunfire. Among those killed was a 15-year-old girl.

Huppke is quick to place the blame where it belongs: on the shooters. However, he also cites President Obama’s “Iron Pipeline” and argues that “Chicago’s tough gun laws don’t mean much when there are states where guns can be purchased with ease and little scrutiny” and then resold (illegally) in Chicago.

For its part, the NRA maintains that, “instead of treating the law-abiding gun owners of Indiana like criminals they should start treating the criminals in Chicago like criminals.” Huppke counters that if supplier states like Indiana, Mississippi, and Wisconsin had tighter restrictions on gun purchases, it “could drive up the price of weapons and make it harder for a messed-up kid to get a pistol for his waistband.”

Huppke concludes:

Chicagoans are going to die this weekend. And blame will rest, as it should, on the shooters and the gun runners and the gangs that foment violence.

Some of it will be on us, for never caring quite enough to demand that these daily tragedies stop.

And some, no matter what the NRA says, will be on the presence of the guns themselves.

Because it’s hard to shoot someone if the pistol isn’t there.

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