BELLEVUE, WA – With Chicago’s murder rate skyrocketing, and the city on its way to becoming the “Murder Capital” of the nation this year, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) is today calling on Mayor Richard Daley to abandon his anti-self-defense policies and allow Chicago residents the means to defend themselves.

“Mayor Daley, tear down your wall, remove your barriers against the Second Amendment, and give your people a fighting chance,” demanded CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “How many more must die defenseless, before you admit that your anti-gun policies are bankrupt? How much longer must Chicago residents live in fear of gang-bangers and thugs, stripped of the tools for self-defense by your prejudice against the concept of armed, law-abiding citizens?”

Waldron blamed Chicago’s ban on handguns and its Draconian attitude about armed self-defense for the city’s climbing murder rate. There have already been 179 murders in Chicago this year, 16 more than last year at the same time. Last year, Chicago ranked only second to Los Angeles in the number of killings, with 646 homicides in the Windy City.

“Even children aren’t safe in Chicago’s streets,” Waldron noted. “A 12-year-old is gunned down on his way to buy candy. A 7-year-old is wounded while sitting on her porch. Mayor Daley says this situation is intolerable, and he’s right. But it’s his fault, and the fault of city leaders clear back to the days of his father’s administration.

“The problem in Chicago,” Waldron stated, “is that Mayor Daley appears to be only selectively anti-gun. His approach is to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, but he’s done nothing to disarm the criminals. His administration takes law-abiding gun makers to court, but there’s no tangible effort to take gun criminals before those same judges and juries.

“The Daley machine has had years to deal with this, and all they’ve done is create a target-rich environment for predators by disarming the victims,” said Waldron. “The time has long since passed for Mayor Daley to reassess his priorities and his philosophy. It is time for Chicago citizens to fight back. They just need the tools, because it’s obvious they don’t have the leadership.”