Firefighters Held at Gunpoint on Thanksgiving Day in Anti-Gun Chicago

Illinois has some pretty strict gun control laws on the books, and they have them because of Chicago. Not only can the city not keep a lid on its violent crime problem, but the oversized population then demands laws that are then inflicted on the rest of the state that wants nothing to do with them.

And anti-gunners tell us that gun control works. It’s why they kept peddling anti-gun talking points for the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Of course, there are some Chicago firefighters who might be a little less inclined to listen to claims that those laws work.

Three Chicago firefighters were held up at gunpoint Thursday morning in front of their fire station on the Northwest Side in an apparent attempt to steal one of their cars in the Avondale neighborhood.

On Thanksgiving morning, when many people were gearing up to be with family, members of the Chicago Fire Department at Engine 91 were simply waiting on a call. Instead, they found themselves calling Chicago police after armed robbers pointed weapons at them.

Around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters looked out of the station window to see someone trying to steal one of their cars outside the firehouse at Diversey Avenue and Pulaski Road.

“First responders are meant to take care of the city. Anyone targeting them is crazy in their mind,” concerned neighbor Chris Espinoza said.

Chicago police said three people ran out of the fire station to stop the break-in. That’s when all three were met by a group of armed thieves who pointed weapons at them.

“If first responders are vulnerable to guns being drawn while working, what is to prevent these individuals from targeting civilians?” Chicago Alderman Jim Gardiner told ABC 7 in Chicago. It’s a valid question, too. What’s to prevent people like this from doing it to law-abiding citizens just trying to go about their day?

Nothing.

Think about the laws in Chicago for a moment. They’re fairly extensive by American standards.

And they did nothing at all.

Plus, despite the Bruen decision liberalizing concealed carry permit issuing laws, those generally don’t apply to first responders. The police don’t need them, and firefighters are prohibited from carrying. (EMTs in Chicago are part of the Fire Department, for the record.)

So the bad guys knew that no one would have a gun. They didn’t blink at pulling them on the firefighters because there wasn’t a chance in the world that they were armed.

Funny how that shakes out.

Luckily, no one was hurt. If they had been, I wouldn’t be so glib about the whole thing, but they weren’t. Thankfully.

Yet even if they had, the facts wouldn’t change. Chicago’s gun control scheme has not worked and never will work. When crime drops, it’s because of other factors, just like it has across the entire nation. But when firefighters do what first responders do–come to someone in need–they get to look down the business end of a firearm because criminals don’t give a fig about the laws there.

Again, funny how that shakes out. It’s how it will always shake out, so long as Illinois keeps going down this particular road.

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