A bunch of teenagers just out of summer school for the afternoon were waiting for a bus on a busy street on the west side of town. Suddenly, a minivan pulled up, and two masked gunmen began spraying the kids with bullets. Seven were shot, and several seriously injured. Miraculously, none died. That ought to have been enough to outrage the whole city. One might have expected to see Mayor Dave Bing on television, vowing to bring the killers to justice.
One might have expected to see mothers marching to city hall and demanding their kids be safe. But none of that happened.
The mayor merely issued a statement saying “it is the responsibility of everyone -- government, police and community at large - to do whatever is necessary to end this foolishness.”
You might have thought he was talking about throwing eggs at cars. The fact is that he has no idea what to do.
Neither does anybody else in power. Oh, they will probably catch the shooters in this case, and send them to prison for a while.
But that won’t change the culture that produced them.
The people in that neighborhood know what they want: To get out of Detroit. They don’t have any hope of making things better.
The real harm behind an incident like this is far greater than the carnage. Somewhere there was a family thinking about maybe moving into Detroit, giving the city a chance. Now, forget it.
Nobody who can help it is going to move into a town where 14-year-olds get gunned down at a bus stop in broad daylight.
Now, some will blame all this on poverty and a lack of jobs and hopelessness, and they won’t be wrong. But there is another culprit too, one we have given up thinking we can do anything about.
Guns.
We have the highest murder rate of any industrialized country because virtually everyone of any age can get their hands on a gun, often even an automatic weapon, with no questions asked.
Gun control is something our politicians have given up on. They did this even before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the District of Columbia could not ban handguns, that people had a constitutional right to have them in their homes.
For years, the gun lobby has been strong and well-financed. Yet that Supreme Court decision was only 5 to 4. And the court has never said gun ownership could not be regulated. Almost certainly, the criminals who shot those students had no right to a firearm.
Fighting the gun culture won’t be easy. But it is necessary if we are to save our cities and our nation. If you read the Second Amendment, it says we have the right to keep and bear arms because a well-regulated militia is necessary. We have the arms. What we need is some regulation.
This Fourth of July weekend would be a good time for all of us patriots to start thinking about how to get there.
Mr. Lessenberry,
I'm a fan of your commentary and a long time listener. But I have to take issue with your stated opinion on gun control. As a resident of Flint's South Side my neighbors, friends, family and I have all experienced the frustration of witnessing or being victim of a crime committed. Those crimes can often be violent. What would you do if you where a victim of a crime? Probably call the police? I bet in your town they would respond. Right? In Flint, a reported stabbing can expect a response time of an hour. A breaking and entering, while you are in the house being broken into, can expect a response time of three hours. So if you knew that to be the case in your town, would you carry a gun? I expect that you'd still say no for some ingrained philosophical reason. But until you've experienced the reality of violent crime coupled with abysmally slow police response time you won't really understand.
Sincerely, Sean Crawford
Posted by: Sean Crawford | July 02, 2009 at 01:52 PM
Amazing I do not recall Jack writing a commentary attacking white parents for failing to protest and get into the streets and pews of catholic churches for the crimes priests did to thier childred!!!
Amazing I do not recall Jack lecturing and patronizing suburban parents for the drinking and carnage thier kids have caused by DUI events the bodycount has been very high in those events..
As usual Jack has no clue about the depth of reaction by city folks to various events of insanity from the carnage of drive bys and random shooting to the evils of predatory lending and redlining..
Just the usual liberal kneejerk posturing...makes you wanna throw up both hands and holla..
Posted by: Thrasher | July 02, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Mr. Lessenberry,
You are absolutely correct in stating that it is a culture that produced the individuals who would wantonly shoot into a crowd; perhaps that statement should stand alone.
It is a web of factors that create this sort of violence and to suggest that taking away guns will solve the problem, I believe, is gravely irresponsible.
Handguns have been a part of our society for the past couple of hundred years -- for thousands of years before that, humans had no trouble concocting a variety of creative ways to maim and murder one another for a bevy of reasons. Shouldn't we have evolved more over the centuries? Certainly, in many ways we have, but you are a worldly man, aware of current events and the news of what horrific harm people do to one another -- we are also very base creatures prone to repetitive cycles.
It is not the gun that is the issue, it is the person holding the gun. The remedy is not to take away the guns (and please, I urge you, look into the crime statistics in Great Britain and Australia since their grand solution of taking away the guns from law-abiding citizens) -- the fix is among our families and what we value in this society.
Posted by: Debra Wright | July 02, 2009 at 07:16 PM
A follow-up to my comments Friday - sometimes I run right past the most obvious points...
We DO have quite strict gun controls in the the United States. Last year I spent a couple of hundred dollars, eight hours class time and four hours of range time in order to obtain my Concealed Pistol License. Part of the fees involved were for fingerprinting at my county sheriff's office, where my prints were put into a Federal database, where I was asked about any scars or distinguishing marks on my body, where I felt like I had committed a crime. I've never been arrested for anything in my life. I've had my permit now for several months, but haven't yet purchased a handgun, as I'm taking my time to choose a tool that will fit my needs - this is not something I take lightly, nor did any of my instructors or fellow classmates.
Not to mention, the list is long of places one is not allowed to carry your legally obtained gun - do you suppose the criminals will abide by the increased controls you suggest?
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
In the above link, note the crime rate in Colombia, where law-abiding citizens are not allowed to own any sort of gun. The drug lords control that country and all the guns.
Posted by: Debra Wright | July 05, 2009 at 02:06 PM
It's amazing how much power the NRA has in Washington, D.C. The vast majority of Americans have ALWAYS supported sensible gun laws, but a small faction of gun nuts have fought against ANY kind of background checks. I know the slippery slope arguments but it's all garbage! Why we can't outlaw the purchase of uzi's and semi-automatics to those not in the military or law enforcement, makes NO SENSE to me! Canada has tough laws and their homicide rates are practically non-existent compared to ours.
Posted by: rjacks | July 08, 2009 at 01:48 PM