The Great Chicago Firearm

In the city of Chicago, there is something of a problem with gun violence. According to the New York Times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former White House Chief of Staff to President Obama is now the mayor of Chicago, and is seeking to do something about it by making gun crimes carry longer minimum sentences. This comes on the heels of recent violence on the streets of Chicago, including the death of a Hadiya Pendleton, a 15 year-old who had returned from Obama's inauguration only a week before being fatally hit in a random act of violence. The story also highlights the complexity of gun control as a whole. While some believe that Chicago is our best indicator of the failure of gun control, other believe that it merely evidences the need for better gun control on the federal level rather than local regulations that can be circumvented by importing guns from a more lenient state.

Gun issues are complex, and multifaceted, and make people very angry indeed. From my view, the importance of this news lies in the way Emanuel shaped his plan; while extended sentences only help the problem by being deterring or providing a sense of punishing wrongdoers, what intrigues me are the measures planned to prevent gang-related gun violence such as mentoring, more after-school activities and early education. Gun violence in America is interesting because it has so many causes and effects, it shifts the landscape on the already shaky ground that is the 2nd Amendment, but I believe that this news is something of a mixed bag. While gun crime itself is abhorrent, I can't help but think that this will have a detrimental effect on both our already overpopulated prison system and the down-and-out youths who join gangs for protection and camaraderie, in the hopes of a better (if unrealistic and violent) life. That said, I also see this as a step in the right direction, with greater enforcement against violent crime while also focusing on root causes and prevention methods. Hopefully, these measures will help to turn over a new leaf for the city of Chicago.