Mayor Richard Daley said Saturday he is backing a plan by his new police superintendent to equip all Chicago police officers with semiautomatic assault rifles, which Daley said would put officers on equal footing with armed gangs and criminals.

"Many times [the police are] outgunned, to be very frank," Daley said at an event in the Englewood neighborhood. "When they come to a scene, someone has a semi-fully-automatic weapon, and you have a little pistol, uh, good luck."

The city's SWAT units already use the M4 carbines that Police Supt. Jody Weis is proposing for the rest of the 13,000 rank-and-file officers. Daley said the pistols the rank-and-file officers carry aren't enough when they're up against gunmen brandishing AK-47 assault rifles or other high-powered weapons. Last weekend, one of the bloodiest of the year with 27 people shot, police exchanged gunfire with one man armed with an AK-47.

Weis' weapons proposal is part of an overall crime-fighting strategy and not a reaction to the recent violence, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

"It's part of the superintendent's comprehensive plan to address violence and to ensure officers are equally equipped to confront threats against them and the communities they protect," she said.

Officials said the plan is very preliminary. If it's approved, it is unclear when the officers will get the weapons, how they will be trained and how much it will cost. Daley pointed out that Chicago's SWAT units, Illinois State Police and other police departments around the country already carry high-powered assault weapons.

"We're finding out that the weapons of criminals are getting bigger and bigger, AK-47s, all types of different weapons, because they can carry assault weapons, it's not a violation of federal law, and that is a concern for all of us," said Daley, who for years has pushed for tougher gun-control laws, including bans on semiautomatic assault weapons.

As another part of Weis' strategy, Chicago police, SWAT and other specialized units flooded high-crime areas Friday night on the South and West Sides of Chicago, Bond said. She said police will continue to beef up patrols in targeted areas for the rest of the summer as part of a long-term tactic to reduce crime.

There were a handful of shootings in the city Friday night, far fewer than during the outbreak of violence last week.

"It would be unfair to measure one night's deployment of resources to determine if the show of force was effective," she said, adding, "Any time the community sees a police presence, there is a reassurance. The goal is to let the community know that they're in their neighborhoods, on their blocks fighting crime. But equally important is that the police have the support of the community."

On Friday, Daley held a meeting with Weis and civic leaders to talk about the recent increase in violence. Afterward, Daley urged parents to step up and do their part in protecting their children from the lure of the streets. On Saturday, dozens of parents and grandparents participated in a crime prevention workshop at a South Side church.

"If we're informed, then we know what's on," said Julia Holmes, 62, who lives on the South Side. "And we can help our children."

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