It was a bloody Fourth of July weekend for Chicago, where at least nine residents were killed and several dozens were wounded.

A 25-year-old man was shot and killed outside his home on Saturday morning. Then, later that night, a shooting killed a man in his late 40s and wounded six others.

Several young people were victims of the shootings, including a 7-year-old boy and 5-year-old Jaden Donald, who both sustained injuries. So far, 24-year-old Darrell Chambers has been charged for Donald’s shooting.

Christian Green, 17, was shot and killed by the Chicago police on Thursday night after he allegedly pointed a gun at them. And later the police reported that Marlon Obanner, 31, was shot to death by two men as he stood on his porch on the South Side of the city. 

“That ought to be an alarm bell to all of us that we need strong laws that protect the public safety, especially when it comes to guns,” said Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a longtime advocate of some of the city’s most stringent gun restrictions.

Illinois is the last in the nation to still have a ban on carrying concealed firearms according to the Associated Press. After being declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court, the city is working under a July 9 deadline which will legalize carrying weapons in public.

On Sunday, Quinn called carrying a gun in public "a prescription for danger" and said that he's "never, ever been excited about this idea."

In 2012, there were 500 shootings in Chicago, but homicides in the city have since been declining within the first six months of 2013, according to the Associated Press. However, the weekend’s shootings pushed the city’s homicide rate past 200 for the year.

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(Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)