NPR tells us:
The streets of neighborhoods like Englewood, Grand Crossing and Garfield Park are empty, even during the day. In the middle of this summer, it is rare to see a child ride a bike or walk a dog.
"A child should not have to say, 'I can't go out because I might get shot.'" resident Michelle Harris says at a community meeting at the Englewood police station. "That's bad, that's bad."...
"A lot of cliques, getting into it with each other, basically over real senseless things," he says. "It can range from somebody stepped on a shoe, to a guy swerving in the street, somebody got wet with a water gun and didn't want to get wet with a water gun. ... Anything could spark at any given time...
Ironically, he says, "gangs for a long time had an interest in keeping the neighborhood safe because if you didn't have violence, you have a thriving drug market. No police were around, you weren't getting arrested."
Now, though, there's "just the basic thrill for a lot of these young people of having a gun," Venkatesh says. "Of being able to act like a man, as it were."...
But how could they possibly have a gun? They are still illegal to own in ChiTown, especially if you don't have a permit. Everyone knows that criminals obey the law, right? I don't understand how this could be. Maybe they should do house to house searches with SWAT teams and seize all the guns. Thats the American Way isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAnon at 3:21. You're way too cynical. I mean people might kill each other in cold blood and do all manner of horrible things, but nobody, and I mean nobody, is depraved enough to defy weapons laws!
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