Chicago: deadlier than a war zone, 74 murders, 410 people shot in JULY ALONE

Plus 25 killed on area expressways, but not included in total.

Chicago is a war zone with 400 homicides in the city so far this year. The number of killings makes Chicago more dangerous than actual war zones such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, combined.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - There's a war on in Chicago as police report 402 murders as of Aug 1. Last month alone saw 74 murders, 321 shootings, and 410 people shot. And these numbers don't include suicides, self-defense or people killed on area freeways, or by the police.

The freeways are also deadly with 25 people killed by violence this year. Six people were wounded during July.

Although these reports are shocking, police say this year is better than the last, with a 13 percent decline over 2016.

Over the most recent Fourth of July holiday, more than 100 people were shot.

The Chicago police claim to have removed more than 5,000 guns off the streets of Chicago in July alone.

There are several reasons for the violence. Socioeconomic conditions, the hot weather, structural inequality are often cited. These are contributing factors, but none of these problems puts guns into people's hands and pulls triggers. Behind every shooting is person deciding to do harm to another.

More immediate factors include the flow of drugs and weapons into the city. Chicago is a terminal destination for drugs shipped out by the Sinaloa drug cartel. Along with those drugs are weapons. Rival gangs then compete to sell their share of the drugs on the streets and feuds commonly erupt into violence.

While few people will mourn the loss of a gang member, innocent people are more likely to be victims of crossfire or killed as easy targets for revenge.

Various sources have also whistleblown on the CIA, claiming the spy organization has a known connection with the Sinaloa drug cartel. It may be possible that the CIA and other government agencies are exacerbating the problem in Chicago for reasons not fully understood.

Certainly, funneling drugs and weapons into the environment does little to ease the trouble there.

Along with the drugs and violence is a lot of money and corruption. The people who refrain from drugs and violence are often caught up in it anyway because their neighborhoods are turning into war zones.

This problem will continue to persist as long as nothing changes. Chicago is in serious need of economic development and aid, to reverse its slide. There are no plans to deliver such help to the city's people --although the federal government continues to assist the local police in a wide variety of ways.