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Austin's No. 1 nothing to be proud of
But West Side community can't fight gun violence alone
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July 21, 2009

BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
We've gotten used to hearing about the carnage on the South Side.

But it should come as no surprise that all hell is breaking loose in the West Side's Austin community.

All you have to do is take a look at the Chicago Police Department's CLEARmap Crime Summary to understand how nine people were shot in Austin in four hours.

In the last 90 days, Chicago Police officers have logged 76 weapons violations in this community area, making it No. 1 in weapons violations.

Austin is followed by West Englewood (60), Roseland (58), Englewood (54), and Auburn Gresham (43).

Conversely, the communities at the other end of the spectrum, areas with no weapons violations are: Edison Park, Forest Glen, Jefferson Park, Lincoln Park and Hyde Park.

I'm not saying that no one in these communities has a gun.

But if there are gun owners, they aren't cruising the neighborhood firing into crowds of people on the street.

The people in Edison Park and Forest Glen can let their children play in the neighborhood parks or sit in the front yards without worrying that they will get their heads blown off.

But the folks in communities like Austin are under siege.

On Sunday, within the space of a few hours, people were getting shot left and right.

The wounded included a 9-year-old girl who was shot in the leg while standing outside a relative's home where she was attending a family reunion on the 1000 block of North Leclaire. A 14-year-old boy also was shot in the leg in the the 5400 block of West Kinzie.

Isn't that the reason many of us won't let our children out of the house to skateboard, to jump rope, to ride a bike, or to just sit on a porch?

A mile away from where the girl was shot, five black males, ranging in age from 17 to 29, were shot near the 100 block of South Lotus in a drive-by.

Maybe these men were all innocent bystanders. Or maybe they had an idea why someone rolled up on them with guns blazing.

Either way, anyone on the street at the time could have been wounded or killed by the shooters.

So far, no one has been charged in the shootings, but the brazen gunplay should bring a lot of heat from the cops.

To confront this violence, Austin has to summon its pride and remember that this is a community that is dotted with stately Queen Annes and iconic bungalows that rival any that can be found in Oak Park or Berwyn.

And this is the area of the city where many West Siders invested their life savings in a home and a lawn.

Austin residents should be outraged that today the community is No. 1 in homicides.

Fifteen murders have been recorded in this community over the last three months.

Its closest competitor is Englewood, where there were nine murders. West Town, North Lawndale, New City and Chicago Lawn each had six homicides.

As long as drugs are being sold on their street corners, they are at risk, and their children are at risk.

To win this battle, residents will need a lot more help from legislators.

As it stands, the gun laws are not tough enough to give these embattled communities any relief.

For instance, a person who is nabbed for unlawful use of a weapon can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony and end up getting probation.

Even aggravated unlawful use of a weapon -- a felony -- is a probational offense.

Whether or not the offender will serve a one- to three-year prison term for the offense is left to a judge's discretion.

Given the level of violence in communities like Austin, probation for an unlawful weapons charge should no longer be an option.

If young offenders know they are going to prison -- no pleas and no deals -- maybe more of them would think twice about carrying a gun.

Unfortunately, it often takes the death of someone like Blair Holt, the 16-year-old Julian honor student who was gunned down on a CTA bus, before the courts get tough.

On Monday, Criminal Court Judge Nicholas Ford sentenced 18-year-old Michael Pace to 100 years in prison for the Blair Holt shooting.

We need to do more to stop these offenders before they can cause this kind of pain.