Chicago's gun violence epidemic worse than L.A. or New York
Greg Hinz at Crain's has an interesting column today on Chicago's gun violence scourge. Hinz asks U of C researchers and other experts why Chicago leads New York and L.A. in homicides? The answer he comes up with sounds simple and obvious -- the relative abundance of firearms here compared with the two coastal cities -- but it isn't. The U of C people tell him, "it's complicated" (I agree) and that they're still looking at it.
For one thing, it doesn't explain a 40% jump in gun violence last year on the heels of Rahm Emanuel's election as mayor. I don't have any explanation for that either, but the question is certainly worth asking. A year later, Rahm and Chief McCarthy are cynically high-five-ing the