508 Chicago School Students Shot In 16 Months

[Tim01]

Chicogo has some of the strictest gun control laws in the entire country. People are NOT safe.


CHICAGO (CBS) ―


* WBBM-TV Local Coverage

Twenty-five Chicago Public School students have been murdered this year. As shocking as that number is, there is another figure that's very disturbing as well: the number of students who have been shot in a 16-month period is enough to fill an elementary school - 508 students, according to school officials. CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago's Chief Correspondent Jay Levine asks why, and what is being done to stop it.

Think about it. By this time tomorrow, odds are at least one Chicago Public School student will have been shot. By this time next week, there'll be seven. It's a staggering, frightening, shameful statistic that judging from the reaction we got, those who could do something aren't anxious to talk about.

"No one really wants to address this but we need to call for a state of emergency," said Pastor Roosevelt Watkins.

Chicago Public School students are relatively safe until they leave school, but after that, the closer to home, stats show, the more dangerous it is.

We wanted to talk with Brian Samuels, the school official analyzing the data. He wasn't available.

An alternative to drugs, guns and violence is an after-school program at the Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptist Church where virtually every one of the kids have been touched by that violence.

"This place is a safe haven for them, and that's why they attend here on a regular basis," Pastor Watkins said.

When asked how many of the students know a friend or relative who has been shot - slowly, the hands go up. When five of seven children raise their hands, you know there's a problem.

"My uncle got shot right in front of our building, while we were playing basketball. I was kind of scared 'cause he was a family member, and I didn't want him to die," said 14-year-old Davell Jackson. "I was kind of frightened that I could have got shot too."

"My cousin, he was driving, and somebody shot at his car, and he flew out the window and he was killed," said 13-year-old Alvin Howard.

Not far from the church, on Friday night, an 18-year-old CPS graduate was shot and killed. It was just weeks after his 17-year-old brother was among three young men murdered by an alleged gunman just recently acquitted of murder - within view of a police blue light camera, which anonymous officers on the Internet claim are all too often being used to replace a shrinking force of street cops.

"It's like rarely do you see a police officer drive by," said 12-year-old Beverly Lambert.

WBBM-TV wanted to speak with Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis about the startling statistics, but we were told by an aide that after leaving federal court Monday morning, he was too busy.

But it's not only a police problem.

"There's a fear in the neighborhood because the people fear retaliation," Pastor Watkins said. "We need to go back to the old school way where we had neighbors knowing each other, building neighborhood block clubs."

There's plenty of blame to go around - from neighbors' blind eyes to broken families to schools without truant officers to police manpower. Until everyone starts working together, joining forces instead of pointing fingers, the shooting will undoubtedly continue.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

http://wcbstv.com/national/Chicago.School.Students.2.955165.html

[ccharles000]

1. sad

[readmoreoften]

2. Something must be done about the teachers.

JK, JK

Horrible.

[Wickerman]

3. So, how does the issue of gun control actually play into this discussion?

Explain it to me in real simple terms so my little brain can understand. Avoid conjecture.

[Enrique]

6. maybe it would go down if all the kids brought guns to school

:sarcasm:

[Tim01]

13. It simply doesn't change anything.

Bad guys still get guns or knives or whatever. Crime has a lot more to do with things like the economy than it does gun control. Restricting guns in this area does not stop people from shooting each other. It does keep the average people from defending themselves.

[Wickerman]

14. So, really, the gun control issue had nothing to do with the article

Yet you chose to introduce it with a nonsense agenda item?

Ok, got it now.

thanks

[Tim01]

16. The article is a current evaluation of the success of gun control laws in Chicago.

The laws have not stopped violent criminals, they have disarmed everybody else.

[Wickerman]

17. The article made no mention of gun control, how disingenuous!

Because you chose to make a spurious correlation to the failure of gun control based solely on your own bias does in no way make this article "a current evaluation of the success of gun control laws in Chicago."

[spin]

19. If gun control was successful, there would be very, very few handguns

in Chicago.

How can a city that bans handguns lead the nation in murders?
by Tim Taliaferro
March 10, 2009

You cannot legally buy a handgun in Chicago, the nation’s most murderous city.

You can own one, but only if you’ve owned it since before 1982 and you register it every year with the Chicago Police Department.
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=122301

I'm not going to argue that allowing gun ownership in Chicago would immediately solve the problem. I do believe that it might help bring crime down perhaps even significantly.

A much better approach would be to focus police efforts on taking guns off the streets and punishing those who are caught carrying illegally with draconian punishments. Also local, state and federal law enforcement efforts need to be directed towards criminal gangs.

But Chicago will probably push for stricter gun control laws with the same predictable result.

[Wickerman]

21. I'm not arguing gun control; I'm arguing the appropriateness of the insertion in this article

pay attention.

[spin]

22. And I'm saying inserting gun control is indeed ...

appropriate. Chicago has wasted much time and effort on "feel good" laws rather than address the problems the city residents face. Therefore "gun control" and its failure is an important part of the crime equation.

It absolutely infuriates me when I see a headline like 508 Chicago School Students Shot In 16 Months. And I keep reading that Chicago wants stricter gun control laws.

SPRINGFIELD---Hours before busloads of gun rights advocates are scheduled to descend on the Capitol, a House committee today advanced a series of measures designed to increase gun control in Illinois.

Among the restrictions approved by the House Executive Committee include an assault weapons ban and legislation allowing only one gun purchase a month. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley perenially pushes for such gun crackdowns due to continued violence in some city neighborhoods.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/03/house-panel-approves-antigun-measures-in-advance-of-progun-lobbying-effort.html

Chicago needs to spend more time, effort and money addressing the crime problem.

For example look at Minneapolis:

Successful crime-fighting strategies such as proactive policing, community outreach and youth violence prevention have helped Minneapolis achieve a second straight year of double-digit reductions in crime.

Violent crime in Minneapolis is down 13 percent citywide so far in 2008 when compared to 2007 and down 24 percent compared to 2006. Homicides are down 22 percent from last year and down 39 percent from 2006. Robberies decreased 18 percent, aggravated assaults are down 8 percent, and juvenile crime dropped 17 percent in 2008.

Violent crime is down in every Minneapolis police precinct. The Second Precinct (northeast) led the city in violent crime reduction, falling 21 percent. Violent crime fell 15 percent in the Fourth Precinct of north Minneapolis. Violent crime fell 12 percent in the First Precinct (downtown) and the Fifth Precinct (southwest) and fell 11 percent in the Third Precinct (south).

Police and City leaders attribute the city’s double-digit reductions in violent crime to several proactive coordinated efforts which highlight prevention as the key to progress. Community-oriented policing strategies implemented over the past two years are helping police better connect to communities, combat juvenile crime, and improve overall public safety in Minneapolis.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20081222CrimeDownAgain.asp

I could point out that Minnesota has more reasonable and far less restrictive gun laws than Illinois and Chicago. However, while that may help reduce crime, I feel that the crime fighting program that Minneapolis has initiated has been the primary factor in crime reduction.

Chicago needs to stop trying to blame its failures on the availability of firearms and start concentrating on proactive measures to fight crime. The citizens of Chicago need to stop listening to the babble from the city government and demand action and results.

[ddeclue]

4. Yeah that sounds dramatic but it's probably the largest school district in the country

and the vast majority of those shoots probably happened somewhere BESIDES the school.

and the non-sequitir about Chicago having strict gun laws is ridiculous because Chicago can't control the areas around it that allow guns. Gun crime in Europe is rare because it is uniformly much more strict than here in the USA.

It begs the question: are you suggesting that we ARM every student? That will only make the problem worse. The fact is if someone is going to shoot you it is NOT like nuclear war with mutual assured destruction, there is no 45 minute wait during which you can launch your retaliatory strike. It's over right away and the guy who draws first (usually the bad guy) wins because there is no retaliatory strike possible against the bad guy.

This OP just sounds like shilling for the NRA and/or against the public schools to me...

:eyes:

[Jkid]

8. Sad truth

We definitely need a federal gun law that is strict as the one's Europe, but conforms to the second amendment.

As for the fact that criminals (outlaws) will get guns anyway, doesn't the police actually deal with outlaws/criminals?

[midnight]

5. Let's create a school system that parents and teachers have

been asking for. Smaller class rooms. Let's get to know the needs of the learners, and not how to test them. We as a nation have been worked to death. We need better salaries/pay, and not second and third jobs. Our education system is the mirror of our communities. Let's feed our children breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. I can imagine that well feed children are going to be less violent.

[Tim01]

18. I've been in the public school system recently,

and I can tell you that you are exactly correct. Americans need to learn that spending time with the kids is more important than another job to get another car.
And teachers are have to teach to pass the tests. Every child is supposed to pass the test, as though everybody is going to college. No child left behind. The future mechanics and future HVAC guys turn the class room into a circus. They don't care if they pass the test, they don't want to be in school at all, they don't care if they get written up. By about 16 they are eager to enter the workforce and start making their own way.

It really is maddening.

[Captain Hilts]

7. And WashDC had tight gun laws, but you can get on the subway and ride to where there aren't. nt

[Jkid]

9. Yes

Before the SCOTUS decision to strike down the DC law it was much stricter than the gun laws in Maryland and Virginia. The main reason why gun crime was still up in DC because criminals can still smuggle guns between state lines.

[Captain Hilts]

10. And Virginia is the nation's top supplier of guns for crimes. Even in Ontario. nt

[KamaAina]

11. Still? I thought VA had instituted a "one gun per month" law

despite the anguished howling from the penis-extension crowd, and that the gunrunners were having to roam as far afield as Ga. to buy weapons in bulk. :eyes:

edit: spelling

[Captain Hilts]

12. If you buy them under specific circumstances. I was surprised to read in the Tor Star

about Virginia firearms in Ontario.

[spin]

24. So you can blame the crime in DC....

to the fact that guns are easily available elsewhere.

This merely gives the politicians an excuse for their failure to combat crime in their city. The "feel good" laws that limit gun ownership in their city fail because not everyone else in the country has the same draconian laws.

The city politicians say, "If only the politicians in other areas of the nation were as intelligent and enlightened as we are, we would not have a crime problem."

Not only is this an an appealing argument to the citizens of the city with the "feel good" laws, the chances of the other areas of the nation adopting the draconian laws is slim to none. Therefore, the argument can be used every year to avoid criticism of the failure of the city to reduce crime.

The real solutions to crime are difficult, expensive and human intensive. Rather than mere words in a law, they require action and planning. Why do this when you can merely blame the big bad gun companies and dealers for the problems in your city.

You do it because it works and makes your city a better and safer place to live.

Successful crime-fighting strategies such as proactive policing, community outreach and youth violence prevention have helped Minneapolis achieve a second straight year of double-digit reductions in crime.

Violent crime in Minneapolis is down 13 percent citywide so far in 2008 when compared to 2007 and down 24 percent compared to 2006. Homicides are down 22 percent from last year and down 39 percent from 2006. Robberies decreased 18 percent, aggravated assaults are down 8 percent, and juvenile crime dropped 17 percent in 2008.

Violent crime is down in every Minneapolis police precinct. The Second Precinct (northeast) led the city in violent crime reduction, falling 21 percent. Violent crime fell 15 percent in the Fourth Precinct of north Minneapolis. Violent crime fell 12 percent in the First Precinct (downtown) and the Fifth Precinct (southwest) and fell 11 percent in the Third Precinct (south).

Police and City leaders attribute the city’s double-digit reductions in violent crime to several proactive coordinated efforts which highlight prevention as the key to progress. Community-oriented policing strategies implemented over the past two years are helping police better connect to communities, combat juvenile crime, and improve overall public safety in Minneapolis.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20081222CrimeDownA...

[Uzybone]

15. Are school officials a reliable source for crime stats?

the number seems way too high for me.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. I'm suddenly reminded to be grateful for my boring childhood in my boring small town

Oh how I cursed the gods of my misspent youth for dropping me in a one-horse town, surrounded by cornfields.

I can't even begin to imagine the stress levels for these kids, and what it's doing to them both physically and emotionally. :-(

[ebay_bizzare]

23. nice story !

nice story !