“Young people are dying on our streets because too many legislators will not take a stand against the powerful gun lobby,” chicago.suntimes.com columnist Mary Mitchell writes. “Gang activity is undesirable, but it is not killing young people. The easy access to lethal weapons is.” Ms. Mitchell’s article ‘Gang-related’ classification for gun deaths a cop-out is a major WTF moment. Of course Chicago gangs are to blame the Windy City’s horrific levels of “gun violence.” In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control reported that gang homicides accounted for roughly 8,900 of 11,100 firearms-related homicides.
America doesn’t have a gun problem. We have a gang problem. We shouldn’t be waging a War on Drugs or, as the left-leaning media would have it, a War on Guns. We should be fighting a War on Gangs. Which would necessitate a large number of initiatives, from jailing gang bangers (for real) to legalizing drugs to replacing our public school system with a voucher program to offering inner city youth credible alternatives to gang affiliation.
Given the outcry against “gun violence” and its source, given that both pro- and anti-gun rights advocates abhor violent crime, why isn’t a War on Gangs on the media radar or the political agenda?