If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
But legally, Trump can't do that.
Federal law does give the President the power to send troops into the states in case of domestic violence under Section 333 of Title 10 of the United States Code, but only if the following conditions are met:
1. If the execution of laws in a state is hindered and the constituted authorities of that state are unable to provide protection AND...
2. If there is insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.
For the execution of laws in a state to be hindered, the local and state police would have to either disappear or be overrun by an insurrection. That is clearly not the case in Chicago.
On top of that, individual and isolated shootings are not a unified case of domestic violence. Domestic violence refers to a riot, for example. That is also clearly not the case in Chicago.
Therefore, Trump does not have the legal authority to "send in the feds". If he were to do that, he would be violating states' rights.
Now, if Trump really wanted to decrease the gun violence nationwide, he could do it by supporting gun control. Because neither local, state, nor federal police are psychics. Neither of them have any way to predict when and where a shooting will take place. The only way to reduce gun violence is to reduce the amount of guns in circulation and the access to guns.
Anything other than that is a lie by Trump. Because, assuming he could actually get away with sending federal troops to Chicago, what are the federal troops going to do? Predict where a shooting will take place?
I'm sorry, but that's simply not possible.
But Trump likes to lie.
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