When Editorials Are Outlawed...

...only outlaws will write editorials. Or something like that.

Somebody in Chicago must've seen a bumper sticker and it changed his mind. At last.

The result is a really breathtaking editorial in this morning's Chicago Tribune, "Chicago's Pointless Handgun Ban - City Gun Ordinances Proved To Be A Failure".

Excerpt:

In the years following its ban, Washington did not generate a decline in gun murders. In fact, the number of killings rose by 156 percent — at a time when murders nationally increased by just 32 percent. For a while, the city vied regularly for the title of murder capital of America.

Chicago followed a similar course. In the decade after it outlawed handguns, murders jumped by 41 percent, compared with an 18 percent rise in the entire United States.

One problem is that the bans didn't actually have any discernible effect on the availability of guns to people with felonious intent. As with drugs and hookers, when there is a demand for guns, there will always be a supply.

Who places the highest value on owning a firearm? Criminals. Who is least likely to fear being prosecuted for violating the law? Criminals. Who is most likely to have access to illicit dealers? You guessed it.

After all of the decades, and all the barrels of ink, that newspaper editorial writers used to mock the slogan, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," they finally admit that it was actually true.

Except why use 9 words when 900 will do.

h/t Maddened Fowl.