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Gun rights advocate and Heritage Foundation Legal Fellow Amy Swearer was repeatedly cut off by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) during testimony given at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Combating Gun Trafficking and Reducing Violence in Chicago” on Monday.
“I read your testimony,” Durbin stated interrupting Swearer who was citing a specific crime. “I believe in all fairness since we did not invite the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to be represented here today, that you shouldn’t really zero in on any particular individual,” he outrageously remarked obviously trying to censor her remarks on crime in Chicago.
The violent incident that Swearer was referring to was a gunfight that occurred mid-morning in Chicago last October that left one individual dead and two others wounded. Police sought to charge the five suspects with murder and aggravated battery. Two days later, all of them were released and all charges were dropped by the Cook County state’s attorney who “determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges.”
“How does that impact the feeling of confidence?” she asked the panel and Durbin. “How does that build trust for communities? I think that is a valid thing to consider.”
Swearer deserves credit for not allowing Durbin to silence her line of testimony. She argued that the committee should be cognizant of the consequences of “not charging five individuals who shot up a residential neighborhood … on a Friday, none of which were charged, and were released on Monday.”
The Heritage Foundation was appropriately incensed over Dubin’s machinations concerning Chicago gun violence, “OUTRAGEOUS: @SenatorDurbin cut off @AmySwearer during her opening remarks to prevent her from citing data on rogue prosecutors. Revealing the hearing titled ‘combating gun trafficking and reducing violence in Chicago’ isn’t actually interested in doing either.”
OUTRAGEOUS: @SenatorDurbin cut off @AmySwearer during her opening remarks to prevent her from from citing data on rogue prosecutors.
Revealing the hearing titled “combating gun trafficking and reducing violence in Chicago” isn't actually interested in doing either. pic.twitter.com/T8SKUEABe9
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) December 13, 2021
Heritage also tweeted, “What excuse could @SenatorDurbin possibly have for preventing @AmySwearer from testifying about a news story that’s been covered by numerous outlets—including the Chicago Sun Times?”
Durbin went on to cut Swearer off again. He claimed to understand her point and then posited “there is another side to this story.”
Swearer vented on social media after the hearing over Durbin’s rude and calculated interruptions.
“Sen. Durbin held a hearing on Chicago-specific violence, then cut me off when my explanation was too Chicago-specific,” Swearer tweeted Monday. “The story he didn’t want you to hear? Police arrested 5 men who fired over 70 rounds at a Chicago home. Prosecutors released all of them without a single charge.
“Perpetrators of gun violence in Chicago reasonably believe they can light up a neighborhood on Friday, and then be released on Monday without facing a single meaningful consequence,” she continued, stating that Durbin “believes it’s inappropriate to mention this at a hearing on Chicago gun violence.”
Perpetrators of gun violence in Chicago reasonably believe they can light up a neighborhood on Friday, and then be released on Monday without facing a single meaningful consequence. @SenatorDurbin believes it’s inappropriate to mention this at a hearing on Chicago gun violence.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) December 13, 2021
Durbin’s interruptions of Swearer and his objection to her zeroing in on Chicago gun crime is odd considering the meeting specifically focused on how to combat gun trafficking and reduce violence in Chicago, WGN9 reported.
“We should never take it for granted – the Monday morning box score of people who have been injured and died is a challenge to all of us who live in this area to do something about gun violence,” Durbin said according to CBS Chicago. “The purpose of this hearing was to focus on the federal resources that can help the police solve the crime and bring peace to the neighborhoods and communities of our state – including, of course, the city of Chicago.”
“We know the grim numbers in this city. Over 4,000 Chicagoans have been shot this year. In Cook County, there have been more than 1,000 homicides [this year], overwhelmingly due to gun violence. Much of this gun violence-about half of it-is concentrated in 15 neighborhoods. But we know the reality-no neighborhood is immune,” Durbin proclaimed during the testimony.
“Every single person who has been victimized by gun violence deserves justice. It’s important that we solve these crimes and hold shooters accountable. But we also need to prevent these shootings from happening in the first place. Prosecutions after funerals don’t bring back those we’ve lost,” he added according to Public Now.
“One critical focus of prevention must be gun trafficking. Chicago is awash in guns, and they are largely being trafficked in from other places-elsewhere in Illinois, and other states,” the Democratic lawmaker disingenuously put forth.
Social media proceeded to drag Dick Durbin for his typical leftist avoidance of the truth:
The Democrats have never been interested in solving these types of problems. They not only create them, but they need them as a boogeyman they can use to campaign on. https://t.co/9gIJpEgcWc
— DPatrickU (@DPatrickU1) December 13, 2021
They don’t want to hear the #truth.
— Cornbelt Marketing, Inc. (@SamuelBHudson) December 13, 2021
If you don’t want to hear the accurate truth Sen Durbin, don’t invite Amy Swearer, that’s all she speaks. https://t.co/afGkyWG1Cq
— Steven Bucci (@SBucci) December 13, 2021
It’s telling the democrats on the committee declined to invite individuals from the cook county prosecutors office to explain their side.
— Manu ad Ferrum (@legiones_redde) December 13, 2021
“Police arrested 5 men who fired over 70 rounds at a Chicago home. Prosecutors released all of them without a single charge.”
Without. A. Single. Charge.
— Andy Olivastro (@andyolivastro) December 13, 2021
The government is more interested in protecting criminals from the public than vice versa.
— Skateboard Cat (@AndrewEyedea) December 13, 2021
Excellent job and love that you didn’t bend to his will. Thank you!!
— Wait, what? (@TonyOnti) December 13, 2021
they just can’t handle the fact that it’s on them. Keep doing what you do, eventually they will have to answer.
— Judith Coleman (@heyjudeworld) December 14, 2021
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