Chicago passed a law requiring each household to own a gun as a way to keep crime down.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel initially opposed the new law, but then he reportedly threw his full support behind it after a special meeting with gun manufacturers and his financial backers.
Chicago Police display guns recommended for households:
The Mayor reportedly told members of the Chicago Press that violence is at an epidemic level in Chicago and the best way to deal with it is to make sure every citizen had a gun to defend themselves.
“The Mayor thinks that if everyone has a gun, criminals will choose to go to another city,” said an insider in the Mayor’s office.
There is no penalty for NOT having a gun at this point, but Mayor Emanuel said that he is considering taxing households without a weapon.
“Chicago is sending a strong message to would-be criminals,” said a Deputy in the Mayor’s office.
The measure was passed amid the debate over gun laws in the United States following the December shooting rampage in which a gunman killed 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school.
The Emanuel Gun Law exempts convicted felons, residents with physical and mental disabilities and those who do not believe in owning firearms, Cronic said.
Chicago is the first big American city to make guns mandatory.
