IL: Lawsuit Against Cities Outside of Chicago, for Black Crime Inside Chicago, Struck Down

A bizarre lawsuit, filed by the reliably leftist Rev. Michael Pfleger, was dismissed by Cook County judge Franklin Valderrama on February 25th. Other leftist activists had joined Rev. Pfleger in filing the lawsuit against three municipalities outside of Chicago.  From chicagotribune.com:

A lawsuit filed by Rev. Michael Pfleger and a group of activists last year that said lax local gun laws in Lincolnwood were to blame when guns sold by the town's only firearms dealer ended up at Chicago crime scenes has been dismissed by a Cook County judge.

The lawsuits tried to make the claim that black people could not be trusted with guns, as though the guns used by criminals were responsible for the criminal actions. From the lawsuit(pdf):

Plaintiff Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities and the individual plaintiffs Reverend Robin Hood, Father Michael Pfleger, Louvenia Hood, Annette Nance-Holt and Pamela Montgomery-Bosley, who are members of the Coalition and residents of the Chicago neighborhoods most afflicted by illegal gun use bring this action under the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003 (ICRA) against the defendant local governments for allowing gun shops in their respective jurisdictions to sell guns in a manner that disproportionately jeopardizes the lives of African Americans, causes mental anguish and distress and diminishes the value of their homes  and other property.

All of the bad things that are mentioned, lives jeopardised, mental anguish and distress, and diminished property values, come about because of black people committing crimes against other black people in Chicago.   There is virtually no white on black crime in Chicago's black neighborhoods.  

If the crime in areas surrounding Chicago were as great, there would be no disproportionate effect. The lawsuit acknowledges that in areas where guns are more easily obtained than in Chicago, the crime rate is much lower.

Rev. Pfleger is a Roman Catholic Priest known for his often outrageous statements. Rev. Pfleger said:

"It's sad to me that the judge cares more about the rights of the (gun) stores than the rights of the people, especially when we're dealing with the proliferation of guns during the highest rise in violence in Chicago since the 1990s," Pfleger said.

Pfleger's statement is irrational on its face.  Gun stores do not have rights; the people who own gun stores have rights.  Taking away the rights of people who own gun stores does not prevent criminals from obtaining guns.  If guns were the problem, why doesn't the easier access to legal guns in the municipalities surrounding Chicago lead to the high crime rates that exist in Chicago?

Everyone knows the answer, but political correctness forbids them from saying it.  It is because there are a lot of criminals in Chicago!  There are a lot of criminals in Chicago, because the policies of Chicago and "progressives" have created situations that fosters crime and impedes legal activities.  Single parent families foster crime.  Scapegoating others for your life fosters crime by removing personal responsibility.  Claiming that inanimate objects, such as guns, cause crime, rather than people, fosters crime by removing responsibility for one's actions.

Crime causes poverty at least as much, probably more, than poverty causes crime.  Father Pfleger has the causality arrow reversed in many of his assumptions about reality.

The lawsuit is a bizarre attempt to find a way around the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).  The act was designed to stop the frivolous lawsuits against the manufactures of firearms.  The lawsuits were never designed to win in court; rather to have lawsuits paid for by government entities become so frequent as to bankrupt firearm manufactures.

One of the provisions of the PLCAA is that people who file lawsuits and lose, have to pay the lawyers fees of the parties that they sued.  This effectively shut down most frivolous lawsuits.

This is the reason for the Pfleger lawsuit targeting municipalities.  As the lawsuit does not go after firearms manufactures, it does not fall under the PLCAA.

It has many other problems, not the least of which is that it attempts to destroy the Constitutional order.  But it has one tremendous advantage as far a Rev. Pfleger is concerned: He will not have to pay for the frivolous court costs that he engendered.

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