Chicago’s newly appointed superintendent of police is under fire for comments he made connecting U.S. gun laws to institutional racism. Garry McCarthy made the statements while speaking at an African-American church in South Chicago in a neighborhood that has struggled with gun violence for years.

Garry McCarthy, Chicago Superintendent of Police: “Let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What did they all have in common? Anybody getting scared? Government-sponsored racism. Now, I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of the African-American history in this country and tell me if I’m crazy: federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms into our urban centers across this country that are killing our black and brown children.”

The Illinois State Rifle Association said McCarthy unfairly accused law-abiding gun owners and the National Rifle Association of participating in “a government-sponsored plan to kill black people.”