Law Would Force Illinois Retailers to Hire Guards

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While homicides are down slightly in Chicago this year, according to the Chicago Police Department, robbery, sexual assault, motor vehicle theft, aggravated battery, burglary and theft over the first two months of 2023 are up 52% compared to last year.  Almost 4,000 additional crimes in just two months.  Chicago’s progressive District Attorney Kim Foxx, and Mayor Lori defund-the-police Lightfoot share much of the responsibility for this, but Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) and the democrat majority legislature are also complicit, having enacted “reforms” that have weakened sentencing.  Chicago police are also operating under an Obama-era consent decree which ties the hands of officers and requires the department to prove it is not racist.  This has driven officers out of the department to take early retirement or to jobs in other cities.  Currently Chicago PD is 1,300 officers short.  What to do?  State Rep. Thaddeus Jones (D) has the solution….force businesses to hire security guards to protect customers from the criminals state laws and local policies has kept on the streets.

Kristin Altus of Fox News reports that under Jones’ Armed Security Protection Act, “banks, gas stations, grocery stores, and pawn  shops will be forced to employ at least one armed guard starting in July.”  One responding store owner said that the cost to provide security would be “huge,” and that soft-on-crime policies are causing the problem.  She also noted that the liability for having an armed guard would result in a significant increase in insurance costs.

Chicago businesses and every employee in the state pay taxes to provide for law enforcement.  Commercial property taxes in Chicago are the 3rd highest among the nation’s largest cities.  Combined state and local sales taxes in Chicago exceed 10%.  Along with police officers, businesses are also leaving Chicago.  Could it be the lousy leadership and pro-criminal policies?

Today voters in Chicago will decide whether to keep Mayor Lightfoot in office or replace her.