Why doesn't Massachusetts have Chicago's purported problems with guns from neighboring states?

[friendly_iconoclast]

For those unfamilar with our geography, New Hampshire and its liberal gun laws are
about an hours' drive or less from a large chunk of Massachusetts' urban
population, and Vermont and Maine are only a little farther away-
straight up I-95 or Route 3 in Eastern MA, likewise I-91 from the Springfield area.

Any would-be straw buyer is only a day trip away from a big haul,
if they are so inclined.

Yet Boston and environs have far lower violent crime and murder rates than Chicago,
and the most antigun MA politicians will all tell you that our gun laws work.

It's obvious- Indiana gun laws *aren't* driving violent crime in Chicago,
and anyone telling you otherwise is either snowing you or simply mistaken.

[VMA131Marine]

1. What you think is obvious ...

is not obvious at all. There are probably many factors that drive the difference in violent crime rates and it is way to simplistic to ascribe it to any one thing.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. In the stated case, the overly simplistic explanations aren't coming from me

I merely began to wonder why, if illegally obtained guns from a neighboring state with laxer gun laws
are a major driver of violent crime rates in Chicago, why isn't the same thing happening
here in Massachusetts? As shown, a similar disparity obtains here in MA in re the gun laws of neighboring
states.

I suspect it's because Chicago politicos and gun control advocates simply don't want to admit that
the disparity is largely due to poverty and world-class political corruption and not laws in next-door
states. Kinda messes up the narrative when someone points out that Chi-town isn't the only large
city that has the same legal disparities with easily accessed nearby states- but at least one other
of those cities *doesn't* have the same near-medieval levels of crime and violence.

[yagotme]

9. Semper Fi, and Happy Birthday!!!

And, Chicago politicos do blame Indiana for the gun violence there. I believe DC was also blaming Virginia for their violence, in recent history.

[gejohnston]

4. please elaborate

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. It wasn't an analogy, it was a question. And you're dodging it

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

3. well, it can't be that 500 ft billboard next to Fenway...

...since that's gone now.

(Scratches head, looks puzzled)

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. I suspect that, in Chicago's case:

"The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in Indiana. But in ourselves..."

not that any IL politician would ever say that publicly, even if they did think it was true...

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. Anyway...

...I see post #2 has joined all the rest of the world's number 2 along with that billboard.