February is coming to a close and there has already been over 500 shooting victims in Chicago for 2017.

The Chicago Tribune reported that 513 people were shot January 1 through February 27, an increase of 37 victims over the 466 who were shot during the same time period in 2016. Sadly, there was enough violence overnight as February 27 gave way to February 28 that the number of shooting victims for the year now sits at 517.

The number of murders January 1 through February 27 came in at 103, an increase of two victims over the 101 who were murdered during the same time period in 2016.

When we see that Chicago gun violence in 2017 is running ahead of the city’s gun violence in 2016, it is important to remember just how deadly 2016 was in the Windy City. After all, Chicago’s gun violence in 2016 was so high that it skewed national numbers for America’s 30 largest cities. The Washington Post reported the Brennan Center of Justice expected “the homicide rate for the country’s 30 biggest cities… to go up by 14 percent [in 2016].” But “an astounding 43.7 percent of this overall increase” was the result of Chicago alone.

So Chicago gun violence in 2016 was so out of control that it made the homicide numbers for America’s 30 biggest cities appear higher as a whole, yet the violence in 2017 is on pace to surpass what Chicago witnessed last year. And the violence is no respecter of persons, having just recently claimed the life of a two-year-old boy sitting in a car with his aunt.

Gun-controlled Chicago ended 2016 with nearly 4,400 shooting victims and nearly 800 homicides.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.