Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) took aim at GOP Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) after the lawmaker said a weekend uptick in violence in the city proved that “gun control doesn’t work.”
“60% of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL — mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation,” Lightfoot tweeted late Monday. “Keep our name out of your mouth.”
Lightfoot also tweeted a graph showing the top 10 source states of recovered firearms in Chicago between 2013 and 2016. Only about 40 percent came from Illinois, with the rest coming from states such as Indiana, Mississippi and Cruz’s state of Texas.{mosads}
Cruz tweeted in the aftermath of a deadly shooting in Odessa, Texas, on Saturday — and after 37 people were reportedly shot in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend — that gun control isn’t going to reduce violence.
“Gun control doesn’t work. Look at Chicago,” he tweeted on Monday. “Disarming law-abiding citizens isn’t the answer. Stopping violent criminals—prosecuting & getting them off the street—BEFORE they commit more violent crimes is the most effective way to reduce murder rates. Let’s protect our citizens.”
The West Texas shooting has reignited the gun control debate, with 2020 Democrats and gun violence awareness groups among those pressuring lawmakers to deal with the issue.
The White House is in talks with lawmakers from both parties on gun control proposals, hoping for a plan of action before the House and Senate reconvene later this month.