LETTERS: The Murder Rate and Gun Laws in the Windy City

As a native Chicagoan, I had two thoughts as I read "The Real Story of Chicago's Bloody Summer" by William J. Bratton (Cross Country, July 21). The first is that President Obama, a Chicagoan, has never visited the city to complain of the carnage due to firearm-related deaths in the city. Yet he couldn't wait to score political points in both the Gabrielle Giffords and the Aurora, Colo., tragedies. This is because Chicago has very restrictive gun laws and yet has a horrendous murder rate. The crime is so bad in Chicago that former Mayor Richard M. Daley still has a taxpayer-funded security detail.

The murder rate in Chicago won't decrease significantly until the drug trade becomes unprofitable. The current plague of drug-related deaths is a repeat of the carnage that Al Capone unleashed on the city during Prohibition. All the police tactics and computers won't stop the drug trade as long as it is the most profitable business on the South and West sides of Chicago.

James V. O'Leary, M.D.
The Wall Street Journal 
July 26, 2012