By John Boch via TTAG
As we covered yesterday, Murder City, USA lived up to its well-deserved nickname over the weekend with 24 killed and scores more wounded. On Tuesday, Mayor Lightfoot acknowledged that a crush of 911 calls has overwhelmed both the system and Chicago Police Department. But she also told her city’s residents that, if trouble comes their way, they should call 911 instead of using guns to defend themselves.
Because guns are icky.
Block Club Chicago has the story.
Chicago Police were overwhelmed this weekend as people called 911 by the thousands in response to looting, vandalism and shootings across the city — but city leaders urged residents to remain calm…
“The Police Department was responding to these calls as best they could with a significant amount of additional resources on the South and the West sides,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a Monday press conference. “The challenge was it was everywhere. Everywhere.
“So if we had a police department three times the size it would have been difficult to keep up with the calls for service yesterday…”
The city’s 911 dispatchers fielded 65,000 calls for service Sunday — at times getting 1,000-2,000 calls every 30 minutes, Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot urged people to keep calling 911 — and not open fire on people.
“Obviously we’re aware of the fact that Illinois is a concealed carry state,” Lightfoot said. “Do not take matters into your own hands. Call the police.
“We’ve seen tragedy happen in this country, and recently, when people felt like they could take matters into their own hands. … Let me remind you of the killing of Mr. [Ahamud] Arbery. Do not pick up arms and try to be the police. If there’s a problem, call 911. We will respond. But I urge people to show restraint and do not take matters into your own hands.”
Don’t take the defense of yourself and your family into your own hands? How kind of the woman who has taxpayer-funded armed bodyguards surrounding her and her wife 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Meanwhile, many Land of Lincoln families struggle just to put food on the table during the Chinese flu pandemic. Many would struggle to afford a gun, much less be able to afford armed bodyguards.
And now the wickedly violent City of Chicago, currently in a state of widespread anarchy, admits it cannot keep up with the staggering 911 call volume.
According to WTTW, Sunday’s 65,000 911 calls was about 50,000 more calls than normal.
Despite all that, Mayor Lightfoot tells her city’s residents not to use a gun to defend themselves, but to call the overwhelmed 911 system and wait — who knows how long? — for a cop with a gun to show up.
The whole story here reminds me with the classic Guns Save Life Burma Shave-style highway sign panel slogan set:
DIALED 9-1-1
AND I’M ON HOLD.
SURE WISH I HAD
THAT GUN I SOLD.
GunsSaveLife.com