At least 15 people were shot in one night in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. The shootings occurred between Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, over the course of roughly seven hours, and 11 happened over a three-hour stretch in the early morning hours.
None of the victims in the night’s shootings died, although at least one is listed as being in critical condition. The victims ranged from a 16-year-old girl, whose ankle was struck by a bullet after an unidentified individual in a sedan opened fire in a South Side Chicago neighborhood, to a 48-year-old man who was shot while two unknown assailants tried to rob him.
Such shootings are sadly common in Chicago, where as many as dozens of people are victims of gun violence every weekend. The city experienced one of its bloodiest weekends of 2012 — during which 46 people were shot — just a week after last year’s tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Everyday shootings in urban areas generally fly under the media’s radar despite the fact that, on average, seven people are shot and three people are killed by guns every hour.
Critics of gun violence prevention policies such as background checks like to make an example of Chicago, noting that the city has regular shootings despite its relatively strict gun laws. But this logic ignores the fact that Illinois as a state has laxer gun laws than the city, and that 57 percent of guns seized from Chicago crime scenes are trafficked from states where it’s much easier to get your hands on a gun.