Ten Die: How Can We Control Local Shootings?

 

THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2012

A 96 hour span of shooting occurred in Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend. This topic stuck out to me because I was in Chicago during Memorial Day Weekend when these shootings were happening. I was shocked and couldn't believe hearing this in the news. There was not reason for the shootings to occur to these innocent people. This weekend's victims included a 7-year-old littler girl wounded Friday afternoon while playing in front of her house on the city's south side and a 13-year-old boy was killed in a pizza place in the city's north side. Several more innocent people were injured and killed.

The surge in deadly shootings has frustrated Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who vowed to cut the city's crime rate when he was elected last year. While most violent crime is down year to date, murders are up more than 50 percent, according to police data. This is a large increase.

Officials say years of targeting by law enforcement has shattered Chicago's once-stable gang structure and that the jump in murders reflects a power struggle between the smaller gangs trying to fill the vacuum. Is there a way to stop these gangs from doing what they are doing or at least have some sort of control to help the murder rate go down in this city?

Why is this happening and what can we do to control this to the best of our ability? Being there that weekend and hearing this news really opened my eyes to the crime that is going on to innocent people and how much of an issue it is now.