Violence is a terrible problem in our society, especially in dense populations with many low income residents, like Chicago. Unfortunately, this problem is rooted in our fundamental societal structure and is not an easy one to solve.
The distribution of wealth in this country puts 85% of the money in the hands of the top 20% of people. This means, quite simply, that a lot of people have low incomes. With so many people in low income neighborhoods having few other opportunities, some turn to gangs, drug sales, and other criminal activities to make a living. With gangs comes violent crime.
The root of most violent crime in our neighborhoods is the sickening hoarding of wealth in our country, wherein the rich get richer and the rest of us suffer.
Clearly addressing the root of violence is no easy task, and politicians know it. Ask your alderman, or representatives in the General Assembly what they plan to do to address the unfair distribution of wealth in our city, state, and country and you'll likely be met with a blank stare.
Come election time, though, they need to trumpet a success - any success - over the violence that plagues our neighborhoods.
Legal gun ownership is the first and easiest target. However, as we've clearly seen legal gun owners are not the problem. And the criminals causing the problem certainly aren't obeying the existing laws, so why would they obey yet another law putting further restrictions on legal gun ownership?
Making already-illegal gun crime "more illegal", at the expense of further restrictions on everyone elses' rights is political showmanship designed to distract you from the problem and give you a false sense of optimism about the merits of such measures.
Next time a Chicago mayor, alderman, or General Assembly member asks you to pat them on the back for fighting against the 2nd Amendment, ask them for facts and data to support their claims that they're making our streets safer.
Chicago, Washington D.C., New Jersey, and New York City are among the most violent places in the U.S. And guess what: they also have the strictest gun control laws on the books.
Do you feel safer in any of these places?
Laws disarming honest citizens proclaim that the government is the master, not the servant, of the people.
Jeffrey R. Snyder
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