6 people injured in Chicago shooting

At least six people, including two teenagers, were shot Monday night at a laundromat in Chicago.

The shooting took place just after 8 p.m. local time in the crime-infested area of Chicago’s South Side, according to Chicago Police Department spokesman Ron Gaines.

Three of the injured were transported to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, including a 14-year old victim, said Larry Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.

None of the victims, who were aged 14 to 52, had life-threatening injuries. Two of the victims were woman.

Over the weekend, seven other people were shot and killed in the city.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called gun violence Chicago’s “most urgent problem” last week. He announced a plan that would make the city’s gun laws, already some of the strictest in the country, even tougher.

Under his proposed ordinance, all gun sales in Chicago would be videotaped to deter buyers from using false identification. Gun buyers could make only one purchase each month, and gun shops would not be allowed within 500 feet of schools or parks.

Chicago is notorious for its unusually high number of gun deaths, and the proposal is to stem violence there. Chicago’s gun-related homicide rate is three times higher than New York’s, and twice that of Los Angeles.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot dead in the United States. The year 2012 was a record setting year for gun sales in the US. About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the US at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.