As gun violence continues to plague Chicago, the Chicago Tribune presents its series "Chicago Under the Gun." The project, which pairs up Tribune crime reporters with photographers and videographers, offers small but heartbreaking and important slice-of-life glimpses into some of the city's shootings.
And before we start....
1) Chicago has strict gun laws, but the surrounding states do not. It's easy to bring guns into the city. That's why we're pushing for National legislation. Outlawing guns in one county and making them freely available next door reduces the effectiveness.
2) Many of these shootings are drive bys or group shootings. So, before you say concealed carry, or even "moar guns" is the solution ask yourself how you only shoot at the target and ensure you don't hit anyone else. Remember you shouldn't shoot at anything unless you know exactly what you're shooting at and you're not in danger of hitting someone behind your target. Accomplishing that in a highly urban area is next to impossible. Low penetration ammo wouldn't hurt either.
Right. It's gang violence, not gun violence.
Exactly. And its a side effect of Chicago cops actually doing their jobs. When gang bosses go to jail and drug traffic drops, splinter groups form and then turf battles ensue for the limited turf and product. Combine that will concentrated poverty, racial segregation, high illegal immigrant populations (illegal immigrants don't cause crime, but their kids sometimes do because the parents don't seek help, may not send kids to school, etc.), uninvolved parents, poor school facilities, etc.
Exactly. This is what gun nuts who love to point to Chicago as an example of the ineffectiveness of gun laws miss. Local legislation does nothing when neighboring areas continue to have extremely lax gun control. Illegal guns spill into the city from areas nearby where guns continue to be essentially unregulated. Only national gun control laws can truly solve our nation's horrific problem with gun violence.
Wait, in the Chicago newspaper business, I thought reporters and photographers were the same thing.
That was the Chicago Sun Times. It's a slightly better version of the New York Post.
so it must be a really shitty paper
Most of it is fluff, but they've got much better sports writing. It's a blue collar paper at its finest.
The Chicago papers always have had good sportswriters and the Sun Times did house Roger Ebert so that's another plus.
This is a very commendable project but I fear that it's very selective in which victims they give coverage to and which they don't; I'd hate for it to be a case of "these folks didn't deserve it," as if the others did.
That's bullshit, its because no one from the minority groups are making a stand against the violence. I'm sure they had demonstrations regarding Trayvon Martin, but they need to be marching for their own communities and bringing it to the attention of the bGovt. as much as everyone is pissing and moaning about the Stand Your Ground Law. One Florida law is a small problem compared to what is happening in Chicago.
It is a touchy subject. Because let's face it, sometimes the person who was shot was shot for a reason. They don't deserve to get shot, but when you're a gang banger who kills, robs, deals, fights, etc. what did you think was going to happen?
No. The majority of people who are shot in Chicago are bystanders. Firing several shots into a crowd of people, hoping to get the one guy you're aiming for, isn't that successful. There have been two shootings recently near me in which several people were injured because they happened to be the in the wrong place at the wrong time. A month or so ago a couple of people were wounded while sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus. A gang member was sitting in the shelter waiting for the bus, and there was a drive-by. Tonight there was a drive by on a corner that always has a lot of people hanging around (there's a church on one corner, a McDonalds across the street, and two bus stops). 4 were critically wounded. I'm guessing they weren't the intended victims. Gang-bangers are notoriously bad shots.
Looks like a really eye-opening project. Thank goodness it's the Tribune and not the Sun-Times, it'd be a real shame to see this project through Instagram-tinted glasses. I'm assuming there was no dearth of talented photojournalists for hire in Chicago for the series.
Agreed. Sun Times, are you out there? THIS is why you have photographers.
