Which scourges will we tolerate?

 

There are no gun shops in Chicago, because they are outlawed there. Chicago also completely banned handguns for many years until the Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional. When that happened, they instituted restrictions so tough that they have been described as the closest they could come to outlawing guns without actually doing so. Illinois has no provision that allows citizens to carry guns in public despite the Constitutional protection for such.

 

Despite these gun laws, Chicago had more police officers murdered in 2010 than any other U.S. city. It boasts one of the highest violent crime rates in the country -- higher than that of either Los Angeles or New York.

 

Just recently, a 15-year-old girl who performed at Obama's inauguration was gunned down in what was probably a gang shooting. She was sitting in a park with friends. She was one of 42 homicides recorded already in the Windy City since January 1. There were more than 500 homicides in 2012. Doesn't look like banning guns worked for Chicago. In fact, it looks like it may have made crime more prevalent.

 

Obama's mouthpiece, Jay Carney, says that the President and First Lady feel they have an obligation to try when it comes to "the scourge of gun violence." I guess they think the scourges of knife violence or poison violence or strangulation violence aren't a problem.

 

"Inauguration performer killed." The Dallas Morning News; January 31, 2013; p. 6A.