In Chicago, handguns easily turned into high-capacity machine guns fuel growing violence

Kimberly Saunders, whose then-17-year-old son Parnelius Saunders survived a May 19 machine-gun shooting outside the McDonald’s near Chicago Avenue and State Street. “It’s very unfortunate that civilians are able to get hold of that type of artillery,” she says. “It’s really sad. And it’s really scary.” (Pat Nabong / Sun-Times)

A gun trafficker from the Southwest Side says he’s been cashing in on the latest thing every Chicago gang member has just got to have:

A machine gun.