What more can be said about children dying from gun violence in St. Louis?
We’re only three months into 2017 and already four children have been killed in the city this year. Others have been wounded, critically injured, or severely traumatized by violence generated by gunfire.
On Friday, March 24, as people were preparing dinner or shopping for the weekend or getting ready to go out, gunfire erupted (again) in North St. Louis. A 15-year-old boy was killed. An 8-year-old boy was critically injured. Five other people were severely wounded and taken to area hospitals.
In describing the mayhem, St. Louis Police Lt. John Green was quoted as saying, “We don’t know what caused the shooting.”
Really? Lt. Green may not know the cause, but other people may be a little more discerning. The cause of the shooting was a gun.
Is it so hard to figure out that, if a gun had not been involved, seven people would not have been taken from the scene in ambulances?
And does it really matter if there was an old grudge, perceived slight, debt, family feud, simple misunderstanding or long-standing vendetta? Without the gun, the problem may have been solved, or not. But life would have gone on. When guns are used to solve problems, life does not go on, not for the victim.
In St. Louis we are now witnessing the way that a gun at hand alters the chemistry of ordinary life. People are afraid of gun violence; therefore, they purchase firearms, which only increases their chances of becoming a victim. When a gun is within easy reach, a slight miscalculation or simple disagreement can quickly turn into a tragedy.
What we are now seeing is a civilian arms race, being played out in homes, offices, neighborhoods and public spaces throughout our community. Who benefits? Follow the money, from the guy who steals the gun from the car brought in from the suburbs, to the gun show dealer who sold the gun to the guy without a background check, to the firearms manufacturer whose stock price is rising monthly, to the National Rifle Association.
We know the cause of the shootings. So what are we going to do about it?
A look at New York City might provide some answers. According to a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by the New York City police commissioner and the Manhattan district attorney, New York has accounted for 25 percent of the decline in homicides nationally since 1990. During the last 15 years, murders in the city fell by 84 percent and shootings by 81 percent. The officials said there has been no comparable decline in gun crime anywhere else in the U.S.
So how did New York do it? According to the authors, “by enforcing some of the strongest gun laws in the country.”
This is unlikely to happen in St. Louis. Missouri has some of the loosest gun laws in the country, and the state pre-emption law prevents cities from enacting laws that are stronger than state statues. But at least the New York experience gives us a clue about what could be done, if only we valued the lives of our children, who are now afraid to play outside on warm spring evenings.
Barbara L. Finch is a co-founder of Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice and a member of the group’s Campaign for Common-Sense Gun Solutions, which sponsors “Lock It For Love,” a free gun lock distribution effort. For information about Lock It For Love events, email
gunsolutions@womensvoicesraised.org.
