Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot hits back at Ted Cruz's claims about gun control

After Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tried to use her city as an example why "gun control doesn't work," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot came back with a sharp response, calling him a "coward" and telling him to get his facts straight.

On Monday, Cruz tweeted a link to an article about shootings that took place in "Democrat-controlled Chicago" over Labor Day weekend. Cruz, whose own state was rocked by two deadly mass shootings within the last few weeks, added as a caption: "Gun control doesn't work. Look at Chicago. Disarming law-abiding citizens isn't the answer. Stopping violent criminals — prosecuting & getting them off the street — BEFORE they commit more violent crimes in the most effective way to reduce murder rates. Let's protect our citizens."

Lightfoot was quick to respond. "60 percent of illegal firearms recovered in Chicago come from outside IL, mostly from states dominated by coward Republicans like you who refuse to enact commonsense gun legislation," she tweeted. "Keep our name out of your mouth." She included information from the 2017 Gun Trace Report, which was released by the city and its police department, showing that between 2013 and 2016, "the majority of illegally used or possessed firearms recovered in Chicago are traced back to states with less regulation over firearms, such as Indiana and Mississippi."

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On Tuesday night, Lightfoot extended an invitation to Cruz, telling him that if he wants to visit Chicago "and learn about the root causes of gun violence, I'll be glad to show you around & we can have that convo. But enough with the dishonest use of our city as a cheap symbol to cover for the @gop's unwillingness to protect their constituents."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.