Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Monday that Chicago is "a poster child" for allowing bad people to have guns, adding that a return to a robust criminal justice system is what the city needs, not a referendum on guns.
Williams joined "Prime News" to talk about the gun violence that shook Chicago over the extended Fourth of July weekend, during which 109 people were shot and 19 killed.
"Well, it's evident Chicago is a poster child for when you just let bad people have guns, they always will have guns. The shame of it is, is that they've also decided they don't need law enforcement," Williams told guest host Joe Pinion.
"They defunded law enforcement and made it even worse for people to live in Chicago. And the numbers that come out of there are just unbelievable, aren't they?"
Chicago reduced the city police department by 614 positions and cut funding by 2.7% in 2021 in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
"You need law enforcement to be law enforcement, and there's rules in place in every community to keep a lot of this stuff from happening," Williams said.
"Taking guns away — which is always the argument we get into, right? — from good people is just going to take guns away from good people. The bad people are all going to have their guns."
Williams said Chicago is a "long fix."
"It gets back to the family unit. It gets back to having parents. It gets back to getting education. It's getting back to giving back to your community, which I think in Chicago, they probably lost that," he said.
"They need to take a look at the fact, let's get law enforcement to be law enforcement. Let's pay the price. If you get caught with a gun and you hurt people and it's illegal, you pay the price.
"Responsibility enters into this, and let's get our country turned back around. And certainly Chicago, I would think they'd want to be the first to lead the way," Williams said.
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