For quite a while, I wrote weekly articles about the “gun free” village of Oak Park, IL, which still has a handgun ban that criminals routinely ignore as they commit armed robberies and shootings. Over the last month or so, I haven’t mentioned Oak Park very often, simply because I had more interesting matters to write about, and limited time to spend blogging. However, as a recent article from the Chicago Tribune shows, the robberies have continued:
Oak Park police are investigating three armed robberies within three days. The first occurred at 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the 200 block of Lake Street when two teens approached a man. One held the victim in a bear hug while the second went through his pockets and took a cell phone and $60 before fleeing. At 5:42 p.m. Monday, a man was approached by a gun-wielding robber in his garage in the 1100 block of Columbian Avenue. The gunman took $200. At 8:20 p.m. Monday, an armed man demanded money from the cashier at the Shell gas station at 401 Madison St. She handed him $150.
Once again, criminals in Oak Park continue to ignore the ban on handguns, just as they ignore the laws against armed robbery. This is because, as common sense indicates, a person who is willing to commit a serious felony like armed robbery will also be willing to violate a municipal ordinance that bans handgun possession, on penalty of a $1,000 to $2,000 fine. The only result of the handgun ban is to effectively tell criminals that they will find unarmed victims in Oak Park. As Oak Park’s soaring armed robbery statistics show, criminals have gotten the message, and know to go to Oak Park when they want to prey on defenseless victims.