NBC News – The onslaught of gun crime in Chicago has spurred members of Congress to convene a summit on urban violence and prompted a state lawmaker to demand the National Guard be called in to stop the “mayhem.”
“Every single day we wake up in the city of Chicago, some child, some young adult, some African-American male has been murdered,” state Rep. Monique Davis said Thursday. “This is not acceptable.
“I’m hearing from mothers that they are afraid to go outside,” she said. “Hospitals are overburdened with 70 gunshot wounds in one day. Ambulances are so busy people are driving victims in their own cars.”
Davis held a press conference this week to ask Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to call in National Guard “to protect our children so they can go to the park and swim and play and have a childhood.” She said the governor has not responded.
Police investigate a crime scene where seven people were shot on July 6 in Chicago.
Meanwhile, Congressman Bobby Rush and two other Illinois Democrats announced plans Thursday for an “emergency” summit July 25 at Chicago State University.
The event will be national in scope, but Chicago was chosen because it is “the epicenter of gun violence in the nation,” said Rush’s spokeswoman, Debra Johnson.
Chicago ended last year as the city with the highest number of murders in the nation. Three weeks later, its reputation as a crime capital was cemented when Hadiya Pendleton, 15, was shot dead days after performing in Washington for President Obama’s inauguration festivities.
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