GUN VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO an Alternative Perspective by: Max G. Bernard
The media in Chicago for months has been filled with a drumbeat of articles hammering home the notion that gun violence is at an outrageous height and that stricter gun laws are badly needed to alleviate the problem. What is the truth? To begin with, every violent death is a tragedy, both for those involved, their families loved ones, and for us all. It is a very natural reflex to cast blame on somebody or something and to look for an easy solution.
Murder, including murder committed with guns, has been going down nationwide for decades. In fact, when the murder statistics for March of 2013 were recently announced the police had to admit that murder statistics in the city were lower than they’ ve been since 1959! An actual majority of gun deaths, incidentally, are suicides, not murders. Shootings can occur anywhere, of course, but the statistics show that minority communities are generally the victims.
This suggests several things: violent crimes are very much tied in with poverty, discrimination, lack of jobs and the lack of hope for minorities. It is also highly associated with the misconceived ideas on“ war on drugs”, which puts many people into prisons for largely non-violent crimes. This renders offenders to be deemed unemployable leading to future crimes, especially violent crimes. Even individuals that are incarcerated tend to lean toward bad survival options after being released from prison. In my professional opinion, casting guns as the culprit ignores the real root of our gun issues.
20 LEZ ELEGANCE