Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered a bizarre press conference on Tuesday, during which he placed the blame for his city's gun violence problem on the shoulders of President Trump and Republican-led states. Typical Democrat that he is, Johnson made absurd accusations that deflect responsibility from his own administration's failures to address the crisis plaguing the Windy City.
In a brazenly political move that epitomizes the left's tendency to scapegoat rather than solve problems, Johnson claimed that federal inaction and interstate gun trafficking are the primary culprits behind Chicago's violence epidemic. This convenient narrative allows the mayor to avoid accountability for the deteriorating conditions under his leadership while simultaneously launching partisan attacks against political opponents.
"The vast majority of guns do not come from Chicago. They are not made in Cook County," Johnson declared during his remarks. "They are not bought in the State of Illinois. These guns come from red states." The mayor specifically targeted Indiana, Mississippi, and Louisiana as the sources of Chicago's woes, painting a picture of Republican states as willing accomplices to urban violence.
Johnson's rhetoric reached a fever pitch as he blamed the Trump administration for allegedly enabling what he characterized as mass trafficking operations. "We will never be able to end gun violence in Chicago as long as the president continues to allow tens of thousands of guns to be trafficked into our state and our city," he proclaimed, as if the federal government were personally orchestrating gun shipments to Chicago's streets.
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In perhaps his most inflammatory statement, Johnson declared that "Chicago will continue to have a violence problem as long as red states continue to have a gun problem." This ridiculous assertion suggests that law-abiding citizens in Republican states are somehow responsible for criminal activity hundreds of miles away.
Johnson attempted to shift responsibility for Chicago’s gun crisis onto the federal government, comparing the current administration unfavorably to its predecessor. He claimed, “President Biden responded with more resources and stronger enforcement, and that alone had a significant impact on gun violence in our city,” before demanding, “We need President Trump to do the same.”
Johnson’s boasts about suing Glock and shutting down illegal gun stores collapse under their own weight when he admits, “whatever we shut down… another one pops up.” His constant appeals to jurisdiction — “we cannot send officers across state lines… the governor only has jurisdiction over our state lines” — aren’t just legal disclaimers; they’re a political dodge, a way to avoid responsibility while violence rages in his own city.
This is the same pattern we see across Democratic-run cities and states: instead of fixing problems, they point fingers at everyone else. This isn’t leadership. As we reported before, people are getting shot and killed in Chicago every week, and its residents have had enough. They don’t want the mayor pointing fingers; they want the mayor to solve the problem. The sad truth is that he won’t. In fact, Chicago residents want President Trump to federalize the city’s police force because they want something done to make their city safer.
Mayor Johnson’s blame game targeting Trump and red states exposes the Democrats’ true tactic: dodge responsibility and divide the country. At PJ Media, we pull back the curtain the mainstream media won’t touch. Fight back with PJ Media VIP. Sign up now and use code FIGHT for 60% off your new membership. Join us on the front line, where truth meets fearless conservative journalism.