This year, almost 500 individuals have been shot and killed in Chicago. Over 2,220 people have been shot and injured. Chicago streets ring with the sound of fully automatic fire on any given weekend. It is still America’s deadliest domestic conflict zone.
A Chicagoan is shot every 2 hours and 45 minutes, according to one violence tracker. Every 13 hours, someone in the city is murdered, and it is no mystery who is conducting the murders.
Let's check in and see how the school children of Chicago are doing.
Unfortunately as expected… 👀
Also serves as a friendly reminder that criminals don't follow gun laws. They only apply to you.#glock #chicago #Chiraq #switch #urban #decay #CityLife #FailedState pic.twitter.com/GvXQWZg7m0
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) November 4, 2023
The Windy City has over 100,000 verified gang members, and the influx of plastic Glock switches has armed thousands of them with converted machine guns.
The plastic switches simply attach to most Glock-type handguns, providing the weapon with an extremely rapid cyclic rate. The switches are freely available on a few shady Chinese websites, and they’re also quite simple to 3D print.
One recent viral video shows Chicago youngsters boldly taunting police with their Glock switches. In another video, a young man fires fully automatic into a crowd.
8 people shot in Downtown Chicago last night. One man pulled out a Glock switch 😢 pic.twitter.com/jPPCwu8smd
— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) October 9, 2023
Anyone who has shot the Glock 18—Glock’s factory-made machine pistol—knows how tough it is to handle a full-auto 9mm handgun, even for a seasoned pistoleer. These adapted Glocks are a prescription for huge deaths in the hands of adolescent gang members, who are not known for their accuracy or target discrimination.
To be clear, innocent people’s lives are in danger.
If ATF had half a sense, you’d assume they’d flood the area with special agents whose main purpose would be to cleanse Chicago’s streets of machinegun-wielding thugs. The ATF, unfortunately, has other goals and objectives.
This week, ATF Director Steven Dettelbach declared his intention to outlaw legally possessed semi-automatic rifles, dubbed “assault weapons.”
Dettelbach’s remarks came during a lecture titled “Gun Violence in America,” which was, of course, conducted at Harvard University.
“The president has also said, and I agree, that we should consider and reinstate a ban on certain types of assault weapons,” Dettelbach said, adding he also supported the president’s call for universal background checks.
Dettelbach’s remarks contradict his prior testimony before a Senate confirmation committee, which he gave under oath when he promised wary senators that he would not use his position to advocate for additional gun regulations or laws.
A real-world mission could be useful for Dettelbach and his agents. They have plenty of free time these days.
As previously noted, the majority of ATF’s criminal charges are filed administratively after another law enforcement agency has made an arrest.
When local police arrest an armed criminal with a past felony conviction, they may request that the ATF seek federal charges, which normally carry harsher penalties. Of course, ATF claims responsibility for the arrest, investigation, and eventual conviction, frequently alleging that it was part of a task force or its Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative.
The ATF is currently staying busy by intimidating and harassing law-abiding gun sellers. A 12-man ATF SWAT team was recently dispatched to the remote Oklahoma home of a federal firearms licensee who had committed no crime. The dealer was so afraid that he surrendered his FFL.
Wouldn’t ATF SWAT assets be more effective in Chicago, where the local police force is underfunded, underpaid, and controlled by Democrats?
The ATF’s leadership enjoys bragging about how helpful they are to their law enforcement “partners.” It is time for actions, not words. Instead of sitting in their comfortable Field Division offices, waiting for the phone to ring with a regular trace request, perhaps ATF might consider doing some genuine police work. Instead of their current supporting position, perhaps they could take the lead in disarming an actual threat.
Given the millions of undocumented military-age males that Joe Biden permitted to enter our border, as well as the $7 billion in weapons and military equipment he gave terrorists, which are now showing up in Israel, we’ll keep our ARs and AKs. After all, we could require them.
If Dettelbach wants to distinguish himself from the other political appointees who have led the ATF, he should send hundreds of agents to Chicago where they are needed – where they can save lives – rather than using them to harass law-abiding Americans to appease a faltering president.