There was a mass shooting that took place in Chicago, Illinois, over the weekend that left at least 13 people injured but networks like CNN, which often break into regularly scheduled programming to cover mass shootings wall-to-wall, appeared to cover the Chicago incident only as an element of regular news.
Despite the 13 casualties, the network does not appear to have labeled the incident a “mass shooting,” either.
At least thirteen people were shot — and two left in serious condition — during a wake for yet another shooting victim that took place early Sunday morning in one of the city’s high crime neighborhoods, ABC News Chicago reports.
“Investigators said there was a dispute around 1 a.m. Sunday during a house party,” the outlet said. “Moments later, someone opened fire inside of the house.”
“This incident stemmed from a dispute within that party,” Chicago Police Bureau of Patrol told media during a press conference on Sunday. “This party was given in the memory of a subject that was slain in April. We’re still developing details as far as that goes.”
The scene was chaotic, with the gunman firing not just inside the home, but at panicked partygoers trying desperately to leave: “When people started running outside, video surveillance from a city police camera captured images of at least two people shooting at a home and at a vehicle.”
The incident was likely gang-related. The party was thrown in honor of a man who was shot and killed by the driver of a vehicle he was trying to carjack. A 37-year-old man was taken into custody on gun charges relating to the incident but police have refused to say whether he is the shooter.
CNN had only one story on the incident as of Monday morning, recounting details of the shooting and comments made by the Chicago Police Bureau of Patrol. The only mention of a possible “mass shooting” in the story is in a quote from Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, who labeled the incident a “mass shooting” in her own remarks to press.
Technically speaking, there is no definitive definition for a “mass shooting” — a fact often repeated by critics of gun control organizations, who often artificially inflate the number of mass shootings and school shootings by including multiple victim incidents and shootings that take place within a certain distance of school grounds.
The group “The Gun Violence Archive,” which purports to keep track of mass shootings as a way of pressing for more stringent gun control laws, defines “mass shooting” “as when four or more victims are shot or killed – not including the shooter,” according to Yahoo News — a definition which allows the group to make outrageous claims, like that there were more than 250 mass shootings in the first six months of 2019.
Oddly enough, the Chicago incident would qualify under many groups’ definition of mass shooting, but isn’t prompting the same kind of coverage as shootings with fewer victims, perhaps because Chicago has strict gun control laws that prohibit most individuals from owning guns, outlaw the sale of guns within the city limits, and allows for the confiscation of weapons obtained and owned illegally.
Chicago’s problems belie plenty of issues with the gun control agenda, but perhaps none more important than this: Chicago may have strict gun control, but Chicago has trouble enforcing its own edicts. Law enforcement officials find enforcing gun laws difficult, and prosecutors, like current Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, often simply let gun offenders go without serving the lengthy jail sentences prescribed by law.