President Barack Obama mentioned Chicago's gun problem during Tuesday's second presidential debate in response to a question about the expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban.
"What I'm trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence, generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban re-introduced, but part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence, because frankly, in my hometown of Chicago there's an awful lot of violence, and they're not using AK-47s. They're using cheap handguns," President Barack Obama said.
The president said issues of poverty and school violence, and more engagement from parents, could do more good than simply putting additional laws on the books.
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was signed into law in 1994 and expired 10 years later. Attempts to renew the ban have been unsuccessful.
Despite having some of the toughest gun laws in the country, the Windy City has seen roughly 400 gun-related deaths in 2012.
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