Steve Patton

A Chicago police evidence technician places markers at shell casings in the 4700 block of West North Avenue in the Austin community on Sept. 10, 2023. An 18-year-old man was shot. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Steve Patton and John Schmidt: State’s attorney needs help getting deadly automatic weapons off our streets

March 21, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Cook County judges allowed 87 defendants accused of carrying enhanced illegal guns back on the streets despite the state's attorney seeking pretrial detention.

Police investigate the scene of a fatal shooing outside the Wentworth Gardens public housing units on Chicago's South Side on June 23, 2021. Two others were wounded in the incident.

Op-ed: Jail sentences for straw purchasers of guns will reduce Chicago violence

August 1, 2021 at 7:51 p.m.

Chicago police and federal prosecutors recently announced new task forces targeting straw purchasers and other traffickers of illegal guns. That effort will reduce gun violence in Chicago if investigations are...

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