WHAT ABOUT CHICAGO?
When white people—particularly conservative or right-leaning commentators—frequently bring up Chicago, they are almost always using the city as a political shorthand or "dog whistle" to steer conversations about gun control, race, and progressive local governance. Source
Whenever a mass shooting occurs in the United States, advocates often call for stricter gun laws. In response, opponents of gun control frequently counter by asking, "What about Chicago?" Source
By pointing to the tragic localized violence in specific Chicago neighborhoods, critics attempt to redirect the conversation away from systemic bias, police misconduct, or historic redlining.
The Flaw: This rhetoric relies on a skewed perspective of crime statistics. Crime is largely a function of proximity and socioeconomic status, not race; criminologists note that white-on-white crime occurs at similar intra-racial rates across America because people generally commit crimes within their own segregated communities. Source
Chicago frequently makes national headlines because its sheer size—as the third-largest city in the U.S.—means its total volume of homicides is high. However, on a per capita basis (crimes per 100,000 residents), Chicago rarely enters the top 15 most dangerous American cities.
Cities like St. Louis, Baltimore, Memphis, and even several mid-sized cities in deeply conservative states frequently maintain much higher per capita rates of violent crime, but they lack the massive media profile and political utility of Chicago.