Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot lashed out at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz this week — along with the Lone Star state as a whole — for contributing to the city’s gun crimes.
The Democrat was none too thrilled with Mr. Cruz on Monday for pointing out the impotency of Chicago’s gun control efforts, and she let him know it with a direct order: “Keep our name out of your mouth.”
At issue was Mr. Cruz’s assertion on Twitter that “stopping violent criminals— prosecuting & getting them off the street — BEFORE they commit more violent crimes is the most effective way to reduce murder rates.”
“Gun control doesn’t work. Look at Chicago. Disarming law-abiding citizens isn’t the answer,” the Republican tweeted while sharing a story about 25 individuals shot in Chicago during the first half of Labor Day weekend.
Mr. Cruz’s commentary, for all intents and purposes, echoed that of Chicago’s leading police Superintendent Eddie Johnson in June.
“We know who a lot of these people are. And how do we know that? Because we keep arresting them over and over and over and over and over again,” Mr. Johnson said after a weekend in which 52 people were shot. “It’s just a vicious cycle. So until we hold violent offenders accountable in the way that they should be, we’re going to continue to see this.”
Ms. Lightfoot, however, blamed “coward Republicans” from out of state for not enacting Chicago-style gun laws.
“60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL — mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact common sense gun legislation,” the Democrat tweeted. “Keep our name out of your mouth.”
Her rejoinder included statistics showing the origin of guns confiscated after Chicago crimes.
Over 60% of guns came from Illinois (40.4%), and Indiana (21%), while 1.8% of Chicago’s guns came from Texas.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported 43 people shot — eight fatally — by the end of the holiday weekend.
60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL—mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation. Keep our name out of your mouth. https://t.co/yVM4JHL3xy pic.twitter.com/pr613A3dpf
— Lori Lightfoot (@LightfootForChi) September 3, 2019
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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