if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Guns or Other Stuff
by Lee
Things aren’t so hot in Philly.
A bloody, bullet-filled weekend left 11 people dead across the city, where drugs and disrespect have trumped brotherly love and the murder rate is on pace to be the highest in a decade.
Philadelphia has seen more than one killing a day this year, totaling 127 as of Monday afternoon. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles — whose populations are much larger than Philadelphia’s 1.5 million residents — have had fewer homicides this year.
The spike over the weekend was partly blamed on the first warm weather of the season. But rain or shine, Philadelphia police say the chronic problems remain the same: poverty, lax gun laws and a culture of intimidation that keeps witnesses silent and leaves shooters on the streets.
Let’s take a look at those chronic problems.
1) Poverty
2) Lax gun laws
3) Culture of intimidation that prevents cooperation with police.
Of those three, which do you think is least important when contributing to Philadelphia’s problems? Say they passed tough gun laws, but kept the poverty and the intimidation. Does anyone seriously think the murder rate would drop significantly? Of course it wouldn’t. Conversely, if they enacted business-friendly policies to create jobs, ended the cycle of dependence on welfare programs, and gave residents a reason to take pride in and care about their city, do you think the number of guns in society would matter one whit?
Comments
The spike over the weekend was partly blamed on the first warm weather of the season.
For obvious reasons, I blame global warming.
Conversely, if they enacted business-friendly policies to create jobs, ended the cycle of dependence on welfare programs, and gave residents a reason to take pride in and care about their city, do you think the number of guns in society would matter one whit?
I’d be inclined to believe you about the gun laws except that countries like England don’t seem to have our problems and they don’t have our laws. I have to believe the relaxed ability to get your hands on guns is at the very least a part of the gun violence.
Culture of intimidation that prevents cooperation with police is the problem. If local people dont feel safe than this is what happens.
david
I think the main drawback with guns is the ease of killing. With a knife, you really have to get in close. With a gun, you can just cap someone from across the street.
I do believe guns are part of the equation but I bet there are cities with per capita gun ownership much higher than in Philly with murder rates that are very near zero.
2) Lax Gun Laws - Of course criminals are buying guns legally and waiting their 15 days like the rest of us. Got it.
I grew up in Philadelphia. Large sections of the city, particularly North Philly, are awash with criminality. Part of the problem is a phenomenon known as straw purchasing, where felons get guns through proxy buyers with no criminal record. There is no limit on the number of guns one may buy in a single trip to a Philadelphia gun store, so criminals use straw purchasing a lot. This is why the PA gun lobby is trying to get laws passed that limit the number of guns one can buy to one per month.
Having grown up in Philadelphia, I believe it is a classic example of what machine politics will do to a city. It has gotten to a point where I expect the municipal officials to be corrupt to some extent. High taxes scare businesses away and contribute to brain drain, with people moving to the suburbs or New York. Not to mention that Philadelphia has some of the worst public schools in the country. Stricter gun laws are not really the first thing Philadelphia needs.
Of course, when I said “PA gun laws” I meant “PA gun control lobby.” Stupid fingers.
"PA gun lobby” = “PA gun control lobby.”
There.
Next entry: Johnny Walker
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1) Poverty - Cycle of dependence on welfare, check
2) Lax Gun Laws - Of course criminals are buying guns legally and waiting their 15 days like the rest of us. Got it.
3) Culture of intimidation that prevents cooperation with police - If they want to continue this No Snitch shit it will never end, face it, they don’t want it too either. What would they have to do all day? Work?