Good Guy with a Gun #239: Chicago, IL
The community asked God to protect them. He'd been working on it since she applied for her CCL. | Original incident: June 29, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
June 2024 had been rough on 31st Street Beach in Chicago. There had been two fatal shootings in the prior two weeks. An alderman was saying that the beach should shut down at 9 PM instead of 11, with additional security patrols, until people could feel safe.
There was a gathering on the beach on Saturday, June 29, to pray for the end to the violence. Astute readers will have noted that this date matches the “original incident” date in our subhead.
A little before midnight that same day, just off the beach, a 26-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl got into an argument.
The teenager pulled out a “sharp object” and stabbed the woman in the arm.
The woman was a concealed carry license (CCL) and firearm owner’s identification card (FOID) holder. She drew her firearm and shot the teenager in the shoulder.
The teen and the woman were treated at different hospitals. Both were released; the teen was taken into custody and charged with one felony count of aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
Community and religious leaders gathered on that beach to pray for an end to the violence. I’d love to ask them: Would life be better on the beach if the woman had been disarmed and unable to fight back against a knife-wielding felon? Or if the felons in the area knew that they were reasonably likely to meet armed resistance?
Sources
Local news
It’s Chiraq, so there were stories dedicated to the incident as well as roundups of the violence that takes place in that city. (There’s another story from the same weekend that we’ll publish on the 29th.) The outlets didn’t differentiate themselves much, but several did place the incident into the context of the recent violence and the prayer meeting.
Basic coverage: WLS 7, NBC 5, CBS, WGN 9, Block Club Chicago (a 501c3 independent newsroom), 780 AM / 105.9 FM WBBM news radio, and Fox 32.
2A / specialist
This incident was covered by Sean Holt at USACarry, Ammoland, Blaze media in a twofer article and a roundup.
John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) covered it in a monthly roundup.
Embedded video
WLS 7 has no written content about this incident in its roundup, but it does include the video content embedded below.