News to me. My father and and a couple of friends (NAP bros, as we call them) carry. He's an idiot and the thought of him walking around with a gun sends chills down my spine, but that's an issue of stupidity, not malice. We've had restrictions in the past but the last couple of years it hasn't been too hard to do what you want (I don't think you even need to register your gun anymore). Courts have knocked down almost every attempt the city has made to regulate firearms and I think at this point that most concealed carry restrictions in Chicago are the same as they are elsewhere in the state. They don't stop anyone from carrying if they really want to, and I think if the restrictions were to blame we should see the same amount of gun violence across the state. It's easier to get a gun in the city than ever before, and Illinois is "shall-issue". I'm not really convinced that arming everyone would do much to deter 4 dudes from pulling up in a car at a park and unloading from the windows, it would probably just create even more cross-fire.

I'm actually all for an armed citizenry and not against concealed carry, I just don't think it's sounds reason to think adding more guns to the equation is going to solve gun violence. I believe both sides on the debate tend to over-simplify and get it wrong. Like I said before, the south side is swimming in guns: it makes no difference to most of the folks there whether or not concealed carry is legal, they're going to carry regardless. Realistically, if you want a gun on the south side, it's probably easier to get one there than anywhere else in the country if you're willing to do it through the black market.