RECAP: Chicagoland Episode 7

This week, we learn how easy it it to obtain a crate full of illegal guns.

Chicago Police, we learn this week, seizes roughly 136 guns per week. Credit: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

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Chicagoland only has one episode left after last night’s installment. There weren’t many surprises, and we don’t expect many next week. In the end, this is series on Chicago’s murder crisis, with not nearly enough on the city’s prevention tactics, something we’ve pined over, then accepted; a breakaway from the formula just isn’t going to happen.

The meat of the episode is inside a policy debate that unfortunately wasn’t allowed to fully develop. Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been rallying for mandatory minimums for those charged with possession of an illegal weapon. The way McCarthy tells it, Chicago seizes more illegal guns than anywhere else, so the next step must be stricter statutes. The opponents, many of them being black politicians, feel that such mandatory minimums would cause racial disparities in the overburdened criminal justice system to become more stark than they already are.

A mass shooting wounds 13 at a park in the South Side, including a 3-year-old boy who was shot in the face. When the police locate and charge their suspects, it turns out their believed shooter had been convicted with unlawful possession of a weapon a year prior and served his “sentence” in bootcamp. His alleged motivation? He had been grazed in a shooting and was seeking vengeance. McCarthy informs the press and of course, points to this as a golden example of why tougher legislation is necessary. (Later he gets backup from Hadiya Pendleton’s mother at city hall. To refresh: Pendleton was the teen gunned down a week after having performed at Obama’s second inauguration whose tragic story has been widely reported since. Her mother’s speech was heartbreaking.)

The focus on McCarthy is understandable given the event, but the lack of voices from the other side of the debate and the absence of reporting on gun brokers funneling in the thousands of weapons on Chicago’s streets feel like big missed opportunities.

Still, there were two must-watch scenes that stood out from the cycle of gun violence and Rahm Emanuel day-to-day. The first, came when criminal investigator Frank Domma interviews an inmate. The prisoner’s words reach us through a voice changer and we only view him from the back. He describes how easy it is to get crates full of illegal guns. It’s crazy.

The other scene is over at Fenger High. Principal Liz Dozier is away as her staff prepares for the upcoming Homecoming weekend. The staff heads outside, alerting the authorities when they notice some suspicious activity that looks to involve a former student. When it looks like the incident might make them have to shut down their plans, Assistant Principal Tosha Jackson snaps: “At some point we’ve got to be able to have normal high school. Every high school in this city is having a homecoming dance! EVERY OTHER HIGH SCHOOL IS HAVING A HOMECOMING DANCE!”

Fortunately,the dance proceeds. Dozier returns and she’s asked the commander of the local precinct for support. He obliges and shows up personally, but no police can be found by the end of the night. Dozier winds up patrolling potential scuffles herself. It’s not a grim note to leave us on, but it’s certainly not a hopeful one either.

What did you think of last night’s episode? Let us know in the comments.

(Birdman gif via Complex)

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Cassie Owens is a regular contributor to Next City. Her writing has also appeared at CNN.com, Philadelphia City Paper and other publications.

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Tags: chicago

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