A report revealed that people living in Chicago have been using firearms to defend themselves in much higher numbers than in the past. This could easily be the start of a trend happening across the country.

Fox News reported:

Fox News Digital analyzed local media reports going back to 2020 and found there have been at least 44 incidents in which people thwarted an attack or crime with a gun who had concealed carry permits (CCW) or an FOID, an Illinois identification card used for gun possession and purchase.

There may be additional incidents that weren’t reported by the media or to local police.

The dozens of documented incidents include concealed carry holders thwarting a car burglary and a would-be carjacker, a resident with a CCW who intervened when he heard a disturbance coming from his neighbor’s home and found a man wielding a knife, and a CCW holder who disrupted a shooting that left one woman dead and two men injured.

John Lott, president and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told Fox News that higher rates of crime are “the reason why you’ve seen the increase in gun sales” He said this trend has materialized “because people realize that the police and law enforcement broadly isn’t being allowed…to go and do its job.”

“And the people know that they ultimately have to be responsible for protecting themselves and their families,” Lott added.

According to the report:

Homicides skyrocketed in the city in 2020, following a drop in violence the three previous years. The Windy City recorded 769 homicides in 2020, up 50% compared to 2019. In 2021, the city broke a 25-year record when it surpassed 800 homicides, the Chicago Tribune reported. Homicides dipped last year to 695, but the figure still ranks as one of the highest since the 1990s.

After the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide unrest that followed, homicides surged. Calls to defund the police abounded and many major cities acquiesced to the far leftists calling on them to slash law enforcement budgets. This resulted in fewer officers patrolling the streets. But it also had other consequences.

Many police departments experienced record numbers of resignations due to low morale and prevalent anti-cop sentiment being cultivated by progressives. As a result, the remaining officers had to work extra hours to make up for the voids left by those who stepped down. This has also meant that in many areas, the police presence was significantly diminished.

In light of this, it is not a shock to see more responsible folks buying, and using, guns to protect themselves and their loved ones. Indeed, Philadelphia reported similar findings.

The Reload reported that after it became easier for residents in Philadelphia to obtain concealed carry permits, more of these folks started arming themselves. The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that “[j]ustified homicides jumped 67% from 2020 to 2021.

“The total number of shootings and the climate of gun violence has gotten more severe,” District Attorney Larry Krasner explained. “So I would expect that there would be more situations involving self-defense.”

According to the Heritage Foundation’s Defensive Gun Use Tracker, there have already been 70 local reports of civilians using a firearm to defend themselves from criminals. A recent example occurred in Phoenix on January 28, when a man shot an armed robber named Aaron Duwan Frazier Jr., who accosted him while he was filling up his car at a gas station.

Investigators say Frazier approached a man filling up his car at a gas pump and attempted to rob him at gunpoint. According to Phoenix police, the man then went to the back of his car, grabbed a gun, and shot Frazier. The man was detained at the scene and has not been arrested.

These developments are a promising sign for those who value gun rights. In fact, they show that more Americans are trusting themselves more than the government, at least when it comes to defending themselves and their families. It also flies in the face of the left’s insistence that there is no such thing as a “good guy with a gun.” While these people prattle on about how people should not possess the means by which they can defend themselves, ordinary people are not waiting for the state to save them. This could be yet another indication that eyes are being opened when it comes to the government’s inability to protect and serve.