Mayor Daley believes in Chicago's gun ban. So much so that he resorted to a rather colorful metaphor when explaining his position to a reporter during a news conference today.
"How effective is it," asked the Chicago Reader's Mick Dumke.
"Oh it's been very effective," Daley responded. "If I put this up your butt, you'll find out how effective it is. If you put a round up, you know, your person."
"But people still have guns," said the reporter.
"Yeah but you want to get them out," said Daley.
It's a curious exchange. Clearly, the Mayor's intentions are in the right spot. But to the reporter's point, it's an open question whether gun bans are effective.
The evidence for both sides of the question isn't conclusive. The CDC's first-ever report on the effectiveness of firearms laws says no. Market theory -- that by banning weapons you make them harder to find and more expensive -- would suggest yes. Then again, Chicago's dramatic level of gun violence would suggest, again, no.
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The answer's surely somewhere in the long, grey middle. Until then, we learn by metaphor.
