During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Dr. Megan Ranney, Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, about the violence in the city of Chicago.
Kennedy asked Ranney: “Why do you think that Chicago has become America’s largest outdoor shooting range? Do you think it’s because of Chicago citizens who have no criminal record but who have lawfully a gun in their home for protection or perhaps for hunting? Or do you think it’s because of a finite group of criminals who have rap sheets as long as King Kong’s arm?”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): “Why do you think that Chicago has become America's largest outdoor shooting range?”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 28, 2023
Dr. Megan Ranney of the Yale School of Public Health: “Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri actually have higher firearm death rates.” pic.twitter.com/K70KPNZ7As
Sen. Kennedy is historically fond of the phrase, and doesn’t just use it to describe the rap sheets of gangsters:
When Dr. Ranney replied “So, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri actually have higher firearm death rates,” the Senator interrupted, reiterating his original question: “What about Chicago?”
Dr. Ranney said she doesn’t live there, nor is the Windy City her primary area of research, though she did offer that part of Chicago’s problems stem from “easy access to firearms combined with environmental conditions.”
Ranney added that studies have been published about the positive effects of greening vacant lots and repairing abandoned buildings in urban neighborhoods. Ranney said “you see decreases in gunshots and violence as well as stress and depression in the neighborhoods and around them.”
Kennedy replied, “No disrespect, doc, but that sounds a lot like word salad to me.”
NOTE: The rural/urban divide at the heart of Kennedy’s jabs frequently break along Republican/Democratic lines, with Republicans in the House and Senate excoriating allegedly deteriorating conditions in U.S. cities, which are often led by Democratic mayors in states run by Democratic governors. Notably, the Mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, and the Governor of Illinois J. B. Pritzker are both Democrats.
In a similar vein, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) recently claimed on X that New York retailers lost $4.4 billion due to shoplifting in 2022, even as his state, with fewer stores, lost an estimated $2 to $3 billion due to the same problem. The Mayor of New York City Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul are both Democrats.
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