MaverickNH
NES Member
“…the vast majority of those convicted of the offense of a felon in possession of a firearm in Illinois were Black men in Chicago, and disproportionately from 11 specific neighborhood in the city.…everyone who is arrested and convicted of illegally carrying a handgun in Illinois—primarily young, Black men in Chicago—is viewed as so dangerous that prison is seen as the only appropriate sentencing response. For those with felony convictions, it does not matter what the prior felony was for, how long ago the felony conviction occurred, or if the prior felony conviction indicated any propensity for violence. Among those convicted as a felon in possession of a firearm, the majority—74%—did not have any prior conviction for a violent felony offense. Rather, most were “felons” as a result of a prior conviction for drug-law violations, property crimes, or a prior illegal firearm possession offense.”
So-called Gun Possessory Felons are guys that come in two flavors - bad guys with guns and other guys with guns caught in May-Issue states/locales, not necessarily good guys with guns but not bad guys either. When those guys come from the 11 of 77 Chicago neighborhoods with the highest rate of fatal & non-fatal shootings, I’m going to be more skeptical. The overall Chicago clearance rate for homicides is ~45% - it’s gotta be much lower in those 11 neighborhoods. The 55% of killer who were not caught? I’m guessing if they are not dead, they are still committing violent crimes.
