Daley Continues Push for Stricter Gun Laws

By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 9, 2008 1:56PM

Mayor Daley used an anti-violence rally yesterday to call for even stricter gun laws, and he pointed to glorification of violence in television and movies as part of the problem:

"It's not entertainment when a child loses his life," Daley said, drawing shouts and applause. "This child should not have lost his life.

"These young people that are getting shot and killed is a disgrace to humanity."

The rally was held one day after a gang-related fight at Crane Tech High School led to one student, Ruben Ivy, being fatally shot and another seriously beaten with a golf club. This continues the disturbing trend of gun violence amongst CPS students this year -- Ivy's death brings the current tally to 18 and we're barely into March.

But are more gun laws really the answer? These shooting incidents are seemingly on the rise despite the Chicago handgun ban already in place. And it's probably not a real stretch to assume that most of the shooters don't possess FOID cards and didn't obtain the guns legally. Going after the method of violence instead of the root cause seems to make as much sense as banning baggies to reduce drug sales. The common denominator in many of these stories are gangs -- wouldn't money and effort be better spent on reducing gang-related activity, and helping to provide more opportunities for kids so they are not lured into gang life to begin with? [Trib]