As reported, there were 3 armed robberies (and a variety of other violent crimes) in Oak Park, IL this week, in spite of the longstanding handgun ban:
- On March 24, an 18-20 years old man entered the 7-11, located at 240 Chicago Avenue, and approached the clerk with his right arm extended and his sleeve pulled over his hand, implying that he had a gun. He made the clerk back away from the cash register, stole $250, and escaped.
- On March 26, two men in their late teens or early 20’s entered the beauty supply store located at 6039 North Avenue. As in the robbery two days prior, one of the men indicated that he had a gun in his sleeve, and threatened to shoot the clerk if she didn’t give him cash. The clerk complied, and the robbers escaped with $290.
- On March 26, two young women approached another woman, brandishing a gun and pepper spray, near the Lombard Avenue Blue Line station. The woman was robbed of her backpack, which contained books and notebooks, and the robbers escaped.
These crimes are nothing new for Oak Park, which has had a handgun ban for decades yet experiences armed robberies such as these with increasing frequency. This should come as no surprise, as a person willing to commit the serious felony of armed robbery won’t think twice about a relatively minor gun possession charge. Rather than acknowledging that their handgun ban is likely unconstitutional, ineffective, unjust, and misguided, Oak Park is sticking with its handgun ban. As a result, only those willing to violate the handgun ban have any real chance of fending off robbers and stopping other violent attackers, which is a sad situation indeed.