The number of shootings and murders January 1 through January 22, 2017, are higher than they were for the same time period in 2016.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “at least 228 people were shot in Chicago so far this year.” That is an increase of 16 victims over the number shot by this same time in 2016. And there have been “at least 42 homicides,” marking a “23.5 percent from the 34 homicides from the same period in 2016.”

Think about it this way–January 2016 was the bloodiest start for a year in at least 16 years, yet the carnage of the first three weeks of 2017 surpassed it. And this is bad omen, especially when you consider the fact that bloody January 2016 set the tone for the rest of last year, with the result that gun-controlled Chicago ended 2016 with nearly 4,400 shootings and almost 800 murders.

Weekends and holidays in gun-controlled Chicago were marred by shootings and murders throughout 2016. For example, 40 were shot and four killed by Sunday of Memorial weekend, 37 were shot and six killed over July 4 weekend, 52 were shot and 13 killed over Labor Day Weekend, and 62 were shot and eight killed over Thanksgiving weekend.

And now, in an eerily similar story line, the Tribune reports that 54 were shot and six killed over the weekend of January 20-22, 2017, in gun-controlled Chicago.

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.