Watching the local news this morning, the newscasters told of either 8 or 9 Kansas Citians being shot at 2 local nightclubs last evening.
And it's the beginning of May.
It's not even hot yet and too many people are getting shot in numbers too large.
And this is exactly what lots of guns in Kansas City--and the United States--is getting us.
With rising unemployment, personal shortages of money and the possibility of fewer police on the streets this summer due to cuts in city budgets, what does this likely spell for us here in Kansas City and, again, in the United States?
A few weeks ago, someone asked, hypothetically, "where do you think the distrubances this summer are going to break out?" and "where will they start?"
I don't like the questions but more than that, I don't like that anyone here in Kansas City and the US has to ask these questions, naturally, and that they apply to us.
The point is, it's getting uglier out there and more and more guns are part of the equation.
Frankly, I'm not hopeful or optimistic about the coming summer and what this all portends for our city and country.
Associated side note: Don't go to the Kansas City Star website to find any articles about this just this moment. I don't know if it happened too late for them to cover or if they just don't have enough staff to cover it but it's not there. It's not on a few of the local TV stations web pages, either. I assume these stories will be covered eventually on these media sites later today but there is a dearth of information about them right this minute. There is one exception listed below and even it only covers one of the two shootings.
Link to story here:
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/5-Shot-in-River-Market-Westport/P7lGFjxM8k6gbcQAPm3fAQ.cspx
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Sunday afternoon update: Now, looking at today's Kansas City Star, I see some pastors from area churches ironically and coincidentally had gotten together Saturday morning for a breakfast to organize "a citywide rally" to " send churhgoers knocking on their neighbors doors" in an effort to quell violence in the city. Murders are up 25% this year, too.
They'd better organize something, before it's too late. And it needs to involve educating people on not turning to guns to solve what they view as problems, at least in part.
Link to story:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1175594.html
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5 comments:
Can you explain to me how guns are the problem here? Blaming guns for crime is the equivalent of blaming forks and spoons for obesity.
Guns are an easy scapegoat, and direct blame in this direction fails to identify the root cause or problme. I find this a very evasive way of not dealing with a bitter discussion issue of race when dealing with urban gang violence.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
This is outstanding. I knew this would start and possibly immediately.
Okay, here you go--here's my answer.
Like you, I agree--guns don't kill people.
People who pull the triggers on guns kill people.
Thanks for writing.
Wow, I expected greater wit than that.
Matt,
I will say, I agree that guns alone are absolutely not the singular problem. There is no singular, simple problem, in fact. My point is here is just that, last evening, if we weren't so supplied with guns--if they weren't so available and prevalent--and if these people--men, no doubt--didn't automatically turn to a gun as a solution to what they saw as a problem, no one would have been shot last evening and we'd suffer far fewer shootings, maimings and killings here and nationwide. Guns are a factor, that's all.
Also, Matt, the whole idea of claiming that "Blaming guns for crime is the equivalent of blaming forks and spoons for obesity" is blatantly untrue. Certainly you can eat with your hands. The same cannot be said for getting a bullet to explode in the just the right direction, with your bare hands.
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