Poor Chicago, it continually gets a bad "homicide rate" rap.  Not fair.  According to CNN (Jan 1 2017):
"...Chicago is not the homicide capital of the United States. New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore and Newark all have higher rates when you drill down the data per capita."  

See?  Chicago is bad, sure, but not REALLY bad.  Maybe it's because, as you say, "strict gun laws."