Jersey and Connecticut, which have similar gun laws. We are next to Indiana and Wisconsin."

Top 10 states where guns recovered in crimes in Chicago from 2013 to 2016 first originated. NBC News

Trump and members of his administration have often name-dropped Chicago for supposedly having the toughest gun laws in America but still failing to curb gun violence. While Chicago's homicide rate last year eclipsed a record from the 1990s and is driving an overall increase in the nation's murder rate, it still falls below several other cities' murder rates per capita, including St. Louis, Baltimore and Detroit.

Overall shootings are down in the city, with about 605 fewer so far this year than the same period in 2016, according to The Chicago Tribune's latest tally.

Overall homicides are also trendingdownward this year from 2016, when more than 760 people were murdered — mostly with firearms, according to Chicago police.

Gun laws in Illinois are stricter than other surrounding states, but Chicago's laws are not the strongest in the country, as Trump has asserted.

Actually, Chicago's laws are "middle of the road" compared to other cities and states, including New York and California, said Philip Cook, an economist at Duke University who studies underground gun markets.

Related: Trump Offers to Send ‘the Feds’ into Chicago to Fix Violent Crime

He said that while Chicago has managed to keep gun shops outside of city limits, it has lost a legal battle in recent years to ban handguns and it no longer has a gun registry.

The National Rifle Association responded to the city's gun