Beyond the Bullet: The Cost of Gun Violence in Detroit

Beyond the Bullet: The Cost of Gun Violence in Detroit: A child's fight after becoming a shooting victim Little 9-year-old India Williams was shot while riding her bike two years ago. Her family hangs out with us for an afternoon, talking about…

(This documentary can be found here.)
The video expose starts with an opening statement by the reporter.  He speaks to how hard it is to cover this kind of story:

I've been on the streets for about 14 years, working nighst, going to a lot of these scenes.   And the same question keeps coming up:  "How do you do what you do?  Don't you bring this stuff home with you???"   Looking at the crying mothers, the crying brothers and sisters, those violent crime scenes throughout the city.  The answer is, 'of course I do. I'm human like everyone else, I try to bury it in my subconscious, but it still eats at me and bothers me every day.   I may go home and think about it for two or three days, but .. .unfortunately, it's 'on to the next story'.

Through the story, there are references  to brothers mothers and sisters.  But there are no references to fathers.  At all.



There is one short segment (seconds long) where an adult male is pictured ...  although not identified. The video doesn't explain his presence, although he seems supportive.   We don't know if he is even a family member.

It seems odd to me that a father is never mentioned. Nor uncles, brothers (other than 'crying brothers' although not as 'supportive' or 'role-models').  The piece talks about how difficult it is to deal with violence in the community, but nobody talks about the reason for "gun violence in Detroit".

Maybe this isn't really about "Guns".  Maybe it's about a society which is so derelict that nobody pays any attention to either the presence or the absence of a male role model.

Here are some statistics:

• A majority of Michigan's gun-related homicides occur in and around Detroit and Flint. Seventy percent of Michigan's gun-related homicides between 2008 and 2013 occurred in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, and Genesee County, which includes Flint. Those two counties have 22 percent of the state's population.

• The bad news: Michigan's homicide rate remains higher than the national average. In 2013, Michigan was tied with Maryland for the fourth-highest homicide rate in the nation, behind Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, based by the FBI's uniform crime report. Michigan's rate was 6.4 per 100,000 residents compared to the national average of 4.4.

Detroit and Flint, Michigan rate 7th and 6th,  in the nation among 'large cities' with single-parent households.<

There are some other factors which may be are probably significant.

ECONOMICS:
Unemployment is high in these counties, because of the economic downturn which negatively affects the automobile manufacturing industry.  Workers are being laid off.

As a nation, we are not quickly recovering from the recent 'economic down-turn' (read: "RECESSION") with which we are dealing.

Lousiana, Alabama and Mississippi have historically been among the poorest states in the nation.

Michigan is reeling from  their own economic downturn ... but the crime statistics there predate that.

IS IT POSSIBLE ...

... that "Gun Control" issues are not the only contributing factor to the high "Gun Violence" rate in Michigan?

Can it be that societal issues are at least as important, if not more important, when evaluating the murder rate in some areas of the country?

Can it be that the lack of a solid 'Nuclear Family', which includes a strong male role model, may be at least as important, if not more, when evaluating "Gun Violence" in society?

Would it make more sense to pay less attention to the presence of firearms in a home, than the presence of a Father in the home?

I'm not saying that these specific families have suffered because their own homes may or may not suffer from the absence of the Male Role Model;  We don't know the facts in these homes, one way or another; and certainly, they are not responsible for the injuries which have been inflicted upon them.

However, in a region where a strong family presence is not available in every home, the consequences seem to lead to a culture of violence .. not only 'Gun Violence' but violence in every form.

In Michigan, a private citizen must apply for permission to purchase a handgun.
(Except for those citizens who have applied for, qualified for, and have issued a Concealed Pistol Licence:

CPL Holders:^[15] A License to Purchase is not needed for anyone with a valid Michigan Concealed Pistol License even when buying from a private seller. Someone with a valid Michigan Concealed Pistol License must, however, complete a Pistol Sales Record when purchasing or acquiring a pistol (http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ri-060_6454_7.pdf).

Michigan has established the LEGAL mechanism to purchase a handgun with ...  some regulation.
But of course, criminals pay no attention to the law.

I'm willing to bet that the high rate of "Gun Violence" is not due to legal owners of firearms.  Instead, it's due to criminals and wanna-be criminals who evade and avoid legal access to firearms.

What does this mean?

It means that no matter what controls are legislated to control firearms ownership, the rate of mayhem and murder will not be affected.  Criminals will, by definition, defy the law.  The "reasonable limitations on firearms ownership" will never reduce the mayhem and murder which currently exists in Michigan, Manhattan or Mayberry, RFD.

We will always have maimed children among us.  We will never be able to change that.  Even if  all the politicians who have promised to make "GUN CONTROL their highest priority" are successful in imposing the most draconian firearm-ownership laws, the rate of nine-year old beautiful little girls will not be affected at all.

What can you do?

Defend the children, your family, your friends and neighbors.  The police can't do that.
That's not their job.

It's our job.