The Chicago Loop is often deemed the safest district in Chicago. As the largest business district, it boasts a breathtaking skyline, a robust police presence and streets typically bustling with tourists, students and native residents. Yet, on November 22, this area—supposedly the city’s sanctuary—transformed into a crime scene. Armani Floyd, a 14-year-old boy, was fatally shot and eight others were injured mere blocks from Millennium Park, where the city’s Christmas tree had been lit just hours before.
Chicago operates under a complex system for legal firearm ownership. Illinois residents must acquire a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card, which requires a background check clearing them of crimes such as domestic abuse. Additionally, carrying a concealed handgun in public requires a separate Concealed Carry License (CCL). Illinois is also one of ten states that have banned assault weapons.
However, looking just across the border reveals the flaws in this localized approach. In Indiana, one of forty states that has not banned assault weapons, the standard for selling a gun is visibly lower. There is no requirement for a purchase permit or a state-level background check for private sales. The lack of regulation regarding “ghost guns” (unserialized weapons often assembled from kits) raises serious questions about the state’s legislative priorities. This regulatory vacuum allows for the production of untraceable weapons, which are highly desirable to illegal buyers.
Comparing public space laws further highlights the disparity. Indiana allows firearms in bars; Illinois does not. While security personnel may attempt to maintain order, the presence of firearms in establishments fueled by alcohol is a volatile mix. Under the influence, impulse control diminishes, increasing the likelihood that a dispute turns deadly. This lax culture undermines the authority of stricter laws nearby and contributes to a violence rate that sits above the national average.
Consequently, Illinois’ borders are not as robust as the law needs them to be. Statistics demonstrate that sixty percent of firearms recovered at Chicago crime scenes are sourced from outside Illinois. Indiana accounts for 20% of these, with Mississippi, Wisconsin, and others making up the rest. It is not an accident, but a pattern: the “Iron Pipeline” delivers guns from states with loose regulations to those with strict ones. Producers and sellers in loosely regulated states capitalize on these profits, and the lack of physical checkpoints between states makes smuggling effortless.
The demand for guns remains high, and when supply is restricted legally, buyers turn to the black market. However, why does the nation need this volume of weaponry if it results in chaos?
Proponents point to the Second Amendment and the right to self-defense. However, the historical context of that amendment—rooted in 18th-century militias and specific societal structures—is vastly different from our modern reality. If strict regulations ensured that no one but law enforcement had access to high-capacity weaponry, the desperate “need” for civilian self-defense would logically decrease.
Instead, we pay a high social price. While individuals pay for their “protection” at gun shops, the public pays taxes that fund services for victims of gun violence, including mental health counseling, case management, and peer support. It is a broken cycle: money flows to gun manufacturers, violence occurs, and then taxpayer money flows to patch up the shattered communities left behind. As society evolves, firearm access should be limited to decrease the source of danger, rather than simply arming more people to counterattack.
What if, on November 21, 2025, civilian access to guns had been truly restricted? That large gathering of teens in the Loop would likely have ended with kids going home, not to the morgue or the hospital. Now, Chicago’s safety is again under scrutiny, and talks of curfews have returned.
If we limited the accessibility of firearms, criminality would fall. Fewer headlines would read “lethally shot”—a phrase used in 366 cases in Chicago this year alone. The cruelest irony of all is that Armani Floyd was a member of Project sWISH, a non-profit aimed at preventing gun violence.