As reported, the armed robbery spree that has struck Oak Park, IL over the last year has continued for another week. This is despite Oak Park’s handgun ban, and the laughable assertions by village officials that such a law makes Oak Park “gun free“.
* On January 26th, an Oak Park man was walking on the first block of Chicago Avenue when he was attacked by four teenagers, two of whom punched and kicked him while another threatened to shoot him if he didn’t hand over his cellphone.
* On January 31st, a man entered the Wonderbread Bakery outlet store at 6325 North Avenue, armed with a handgun. He pointed the gun at the clerk, and was able to steal over $1,000.
* On February 1st, a woman walking on the 200 block of South Maple was attacked by two females and two males, one of whom brandished a handgun and demanded the woman give up her purse.
Over the last year, Oak Park’s armed robberies nearly tripled, and law abiding citizens increasingly found themselves being pistol whipped and beaten by handgun ban ignoring criminals. Making matters worse, the armed robbers seem to be getting increasingly violent, even against victims who cooperate with their demands. Although the police have made some arrests, it seems that there is a new robber willing to step up and take the place of each arrested criminal. Rather than admitting that the handgun ban doesn’t deter criminals, and instead only ensures that crime victims are defenseless, Oak Park is fighting to keep its (likely unconstitutional) handgun ban.
As President Barack Obama stated, governments need to end policies that have failed. Given the Oak Park handgun ban’s abject failure at stopping armed robberies, not to mention the injustice that it has also caused, I think it is time for Oak Park to throw in the towel, as other suburbs of Chicago have done.