Attorney General Merrick Garland listens to a presentation with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., center, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, while visiting the Chicago Police Department Strategic Decision Support Center in Chicago, Thursday, July 22, 2021. Garland announced an initiative to reduce gun violence with five cross-jurisdictional strike forces by disrupting illegal firearms trafficking in key regions across the United States. (Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is calling Chicago’s gun violence problem an ongoing tragedy. The Chicago native was in town yesterday for the launch of a new federal effort to combat gun crime in the city. Strike forces will be deployed to five cities, including Chicago, to help reduce gun violence by disrupting illegal firearms trafficking. The other cities are New York, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area/Sacramento Region, and Washington, D.C.