More misinformation from the other side !

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ICHV Insights by Father Michael Pfleger

Gun violence has always been an issue, but in the last ten years, I've watched it become more of an epidemic. It has grown to a new and frightening level. In some communities, murder and shooting of youth is to be expected.

Role of Gun Industry

Why is this happening? Well, the culture of violence has become acceptable in America. Violence has also been glorified by videos and music. It's also important to realize that the NRA has encouraged guns to be part of America's wardrobe in the name of fear. Anyone can get a gun.

When we take a closer look, we can see that the NRA is the lobbyist for gun manufacturers -- but not for gun owners. It's really about business. It's like the tobacco industry. Eventually, that industry started targeting younger and younger people.

The gun industry reaches an astounding number of illegal consumers -- and many of them are young. For example, I can go to any high school in the city and students will say they know where they can find a gun. Without a doubt, the gun industry has promoted the kind of easy access to guns that makes this possible.

Of course, the gun industry tries to paint this issue with a wide brush by saying that anyone who challenges it is criticizing the second amendment. What they don't tell you, though, is that you can be for the second amendment and still realize that the gun industry is pushing guns on us in a way that is hurting our neighborhoods and children.

Broad Effects of Gun Violence

What can we do? Some say that guns are not the problem -- you have to change people's behavior. I say that you have to teach children to make the right decisions -- but also focus on the very real gun problem that plagues our society.

We are not dealing with the broader effects of violence. A child gets killed, and everyone connected to that child is affected. What about the children? Who sits in the classroom where that child sat? And what about the children all around the neighborhood? Now, when you visit communities, our new historical landmarks are murder sites. Now, the prayer is not that children avoid illness -- but that they don't get killed. Children are afraid to go to school and afraid to come home from school; fear greets you in the morning, and in the afternoon.

We need to have a different approach to our schools. We teach about the health costs of smoking and disease; let's also teach children about the impact of guns and violence. We must also support conflict resolution programs and other efforts that can be effective.

It's also about resources. When a mother or father or school system sees a young person who is in a potentially violent state or situation, we must provide resources that help prevent what could happen. I have talked to so many principals who say "We saw it coming." I ask: "Then why didn't we try to help that child more?" They always say: "There's not enough resources."

Facing the Race Issue

Meanwhile, there is a context to this violence that far too few people are willing to talk about: the response and reaction of our society to violence is always affected by class and race. Why do you think there was a lack of response to Katrina, but a rapid response when homes were hit by wildfire in California? Earlier this year, we watched our nation authorize a billion for the development of a new swine flu vaccine. When will our country release funding and take the necessary legislative steps to deal with gun violence?

Violence against our children has become acceptable because the biggest number of children who are victims are black and brown. If 38 white children were the victims of gun violence, there would be a national response and outcry. How many shootings at a Virginia Tech, Columbine or Northern Illinois University have to happen in white rural and suburban communities before people care about the bigger picture?

Looking Ahead

Still, we are making some progress on this issue. We have partnerships with handgun groups, some faith leaders in the city and beyond, some legislators, parents who have lost their children to violence and, in Chicago, the mayor. We are seeing positive responses from many people in our neighborhoods. As we connect and organize people in our communities who are concerned about this issue, they don't feel alone. They feel empowered.

At the same time, there is a greater majority that is either silent or afraid, and until this majority becomes engaged on this issue, we will be like voices crying in the wilderness. I believe there are enough people out there to support laws that mandate universal background checks on guns, limit the number of guns people can purchase, and make sure other key gun control laws are passed. But we need to hear from them.

In the end, this is a comprehensive problem that demands a comprehensive response. Our neighbors, our legislators, our schools, our neighborhoods -- together we can make a difference. We can change the current of the river.

Father Michael Pfleger is the pastor of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. He is well-known for being a social activist on a range of issues, including gun violence.

What a load of crap !

Just a warning: the claims made in this document are amongst the most profoundly stupid, ridiculous, and irrational I have read in quite some time.


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For Immediate Release

Contact: Thom Mannard (312) 341-0939
Scott Vogel (312) 243-8980, scott@freedomstatesalliance.org

On One-Year Anniversary of Supreme Court Heller Ruling that Stripped D.C. Of Its Handgun Ban, Pro-Gun Groups Want To Flood Chicago With Even More Deadly Weapons and Push for Carrying Hidden and Loaded Guns In Public

(June 26, 2009, Chicago) – The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence sharply criticized the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and Illinois Carry for holding a public rally today calling for ending Chicago’s 27-year-old handgun ban only days after the tragic shooting of 9-year-old Chastity Turner who was gunned down while bathing her dog in front of her own home. Thirty-six Chicago Public School students were also killed during the ’09 school year in a continuing rash of gun violence.

Most troubling is the language, tone and materials that pro-gun groups are using to promote their rally in downtown Chicago. Ralph Connor, an African-American conservative who will speak at the rally, continues to preach a divisive message that “gun control is racist” and is eagerly promoting a film that features him, called "No Guns for Negroes.”

The ISRA finds itself in a hypocritical and difficult position playing the race card as an argument to removing the city’s life-saving measure and pushing for a carrying concealed weapons bill. Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Chicago and Oak Park handgun bans by a 3-0 decision. U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, joined by Circuit Court Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, said they were bound to follow the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling on the Second Amendment not applying to states. All three federal judges were GOP appointees.

Yet in response, Hal Turner, an avid racist and internet radio host from New Jersey was arrested for threatening to kill the three federal judges who upheld Chicago’s handgun ban. Turner said, “"Let me be the first to say this plainly; These judges deserve to be killed."

“The truth is that the gun lobby could care less about the impact that gun violence has on Chicago, much less the devastating effects on the African-American and Latino communities,” said Thom Mannard, Executive Director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. “All the gun lobby cares about is their blind and extremist ideology that wants to force deadly and loaded guns into our communities, schools, parks, shopping centers, hospitals, and daycare centers. If the gun lobby really cared about stopping gun violence in our communities they would stop promoting an agenda that makes it all too easy for gangbangers to acquire guns that are used to kill innocent children like Chastity Turner.”

In addition, gun homicides plague the African-American community. According to the Violence Policy Center the annual study, “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States” found that there were 7,425 black homicide victims in the United States. The homicide rate for black victims in the United States was 20.27 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall national homicide rate was 5.38 per 100,000 and the national homicide rate for whites was 3.14 per 100,000.

“The truth is that the gun lobby are enablers of violence by stifling and stopping life-saving reforms to enact stronger gun laws,” said Scott Vogel, Communications Director for the Freedom States Alliance. “Gun extremists preach their limited, narrow and selfish view of ‘their rights’ without any regard to ‘our rights’ as members of a broad community that want to live peacefully and free from the fear of gun violence.”

Parents, victims and survivors of gun violence are focusing on solutions to save lives, instead of debating divisive racial politics with extremists who show no empathy for those killed by gun violence,

"As a parent who has suffered the devastating effects of gun violence in my family, I urge our lawmakers to gain the political will and moral capacity to support common sense gun regulations,” said Ron Holt, the founder and President of PurposeOverPain.org, and whose son Blair was shot and killed on a CTA bus by an armed teen. “If our lawmakers could hear, see, and feel the pain that we as parents who have lost a child to gun violence, then maybe they would understand that we need thoughtful solutions to our gun violence crisis.”