Reflections on Gun Control

Gun control is yet another of this country’s divisive topics and therefore another opportunity where the facts become an irritation.  Just like war, most people do not support anything that could kill or cause injury to them or their family, but the inconvenient truth is that no matter how many laws are in place with the intention of reducing gun violence, criminals by definition will disregard these laws. Indeed, some of the cities with the harshest gun laws also have the highest rates of gun violence.  According to the Center for Disease Control about 5.2 out of every 100,000 Americans are homicide victims, not especially high by global standards, but there is no highly industrialized country with a homicide rate comparable to Black Americans whose rate of 19.4 per 100,000 persons, is about 12 times higher than the average rate in other developed countries. The NAACP reported that the leading cause of death among African-American teens ages 15 to 19 was gun related homicide accounting for 45 percent of all child and teen gun deaths while only 15 percent of the total teen population. The typical murder is committed with a handgun where both the perpetrator and the victim are young Black men.  Blacks are six times as likely as whites to be the victim of homicide and are seven times as likely to commit a homicide. Somehow these black lives don’t matter. Why? Black on black crime as a construct is viewed by many as racist because of the injustice of treating blacks as criminally suspect due to the actions of a small minority, but if this country wants to seriously address gun violence it needs acknowledge the causes of black on black crime and do something about it. For starters, seventy percent of black children are born out of wedlock, and roughly 60 percent live in homes without fathers.  This sad reality should motivate state and federal governments as well as local communities- especially churches and other religious organizations- to encourage blacks to get and stay married and implement processes and procedures that restore families. Children from households where a mother and father are present are less likely to engage in violent behavior, including gangs. The overwhelming majority of gun homicides in Chicago are gang related. A number of social pathologies have been attributed to those who come from fatherless homes, including juvenile delinquency, youths in prison, youth drug use, high school dropouts, behavioral issues, and trouble dealing with authority.  Thought leaders and Black community organizers need to shift their current focus on police departments to establishing alternatives that diminish the attractiveness of gangs, like job training programs that include a stipend. In an environment where the avowed policy of the Justice Department is to reduce the number of young Blacks incarcerated, an exception should be made for gun violence where law breaking should result in stiffer sentences.