Tube City Almanac

August 07, 2012

Nothing to Say, Except the Obvious

Category: Commentary/Editorial || By

(Commentaries are the opinions of individual authors, and do not reflect the views of Tube City Community Media Inc., its volunteers or officers.)

There have been two well-publicized mass-shootings in the past month, one at a Colorado movie theater and another at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

Why are those national tragedies, but seven fatal shootings in McKeesport are just another 30 seconds on the news? When are President Obama or Mitt Romney going to issue a statement expressing their regrets on the tragedy of seven dead people in McKeesport --- and of the city itself, which is fighting for its life?

I haven't written anything about this summer's rash of street violence in McKeesport --- yes, there was another fatal shooting last night, this one at a house on Coursin Street --- not because I'm ignoring it, but because I have nothing useful to add.

Everyone knows what the problems are. No one can seem to solve them --- or seems to want to.

  • There are too many guns on the street.

  • There are too many young people without jobs.

  • There are too many people dealing or using.

It's not a white problem or a black problem. It's a green problem. Well, and a gunmetal-gray problem.

. . .

We can hold marches and candlelight vigils and prayer rallies, but the kids with the guns aren't attending, and neither are the people selling the guns, nor are the politicians who are scared to death of the National Rifle Association and the other gun-lobbyist groups.

In other words, none of the people who could do a damn thing to help are going to anti-violence rallies. Many of those people profit from the violence.

Yeah, sure, it's blood money, but it's a living. This is a capitalist country, after all.

You don't like it? Well, all you have to do is get rich, too. (Like Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, who made $970,000 last year, according to tax returns, making him one of the top 25 well-paid executives of any so-called non-profit organization.) Once you're rich, you can live in a big house in a gated community and hire your own private security force.

Like I said, it's a capitalist country: Get rich or die trying, or maybe someone else gets rich while you die trying.

. . .

On the cover of Time magazine this week, it says that the argument for gun control is settled, and gun control advocates have lost. Well no, communities such as McKeesport have lost. People with dead friends and relatives have lost.

And if you live in one of the communities surrounding the city, and you think you're safe, think again. There was a shooting last week in Port Vue. Sorry, but violence doesn't respect municipal borders. Bullets don't turn around at the White Oak borough line.

Keep moving further out ... White Oak, West Mifflin, Pleasant Hills, North Huntingdon, Hempfield ... it may take the gun violence a while, but it'll get there. People die off. Absentee landlords buy their houses and rent them, no-questions-asked.

. . .

Some people blame the police. Well, you can put a cop on every corner, and it won't solve anything. The shooting Sunday morning at a club on East Fifth Avenue happened as police were making people go home. They immediately apprehended two suspects, but the damage was done; a man lay bleeding to death on the ground.

Hell, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley as a phalanx of U.S. Secret Service agents stood around with sub-machine guns. You think local police can do a better job than the U.S. Secret Service?

Too many guns. Too many young people without money.

In McKeesport, the point at which those two things overlap is seven dead people this year --- and it's only August. The unusually hot weather has meant more people in the street and more people with short tempers, so maybe there's a ray of hope that things will calm down when the weather turns cooler.

Maybe?

Hey, I told you I didn't have anything useful to add.

. . .

Tube City Community Media is committed to printing viewpoints from residents of the McKeesport area and surrounding municipalities. Commentaries are accepted at the discretion of the editor and may be edited for content or length.

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Your Comments are Welcome!

It seems the law makers are afraid of the NRA. Or maybe the NRA has them in their pockets. I dunno. But I will say this — we are selling our house and moving away to a less violent area which is not in PA. After almost 30 years, we are done with this day to day violence and killings.
Lane_in_Mck - August 07, 2012



Lane:

I have talked to four people in the past month who have told me they’re selling their homes. I can’t say I blame anyone who is scared and wants to keep their family safe.

Of course, one problem is that panicked selling just depresses the real-estate values of the homes people are trying to sell.

And since the houses are so cheap, vultures buy them for a pittance and turn them into rental properties. And they rent them to anyone, including criminals.

Criminal activity goes up. More people sell out. More houses get turned into rentals.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I have no idea how to break that cycle. Cripes, is it depressing.
Jason - August 07, 2012



Everyone is quick to blames GUNS. “Get rid of guns and the crime will go away.”

IF these recent deaths were all stabbings, would people be calling for a ban on all knives? “Quick honey — hide the steak knives!!”

Or shovels….how about if the deaths were all committed by someone bashing someone’s lights out with a garden shovel. Ban shovels?

Better yet, if the criminals had RUN DOWN every victim with their car. Ban cars for all?

Yes, guns make it easier than a knife or a shovel or a car (although drunk drivers do a great job at killing people every year with their cars). But if you get rid of one method, they will find another way to do it.

Ever heard of in-prison murders? The cons have NOTHING on there except plastic spoons and they can turn those into deadly weapons….in one of the most secure places around (supposedly).

Look, I am not an advocate of every man, woman and child carrying a gun, especially seeing how just plain goofy a lot of “average” men and women can be.

Not everyone should be able to carry a gun….just like everyone shouldn’t drive.
An idiot texting or drinking and driving can kill you as easily as someone with a gun can.

But a responsible citizen? It is their right to own a firearm and use it responsibly.

The mistake that is made is that these folks assume that 1+1=2.

“Get rid of all guns and crime will be gone.”

That’s naive. The human mind can contrive all sorts of ways of killing other people.

We ALREADY have very strict gun control in place in PA.

You have to go through a background check and apply for a carry permit. And with the carry permit, you cant carry everywhere and if you mess up while carrying, you lose that permit.

Do you think the criminals have carry permits? How many of the recent deaths were caused by people with carry permits?

The other argument is “Well, legit guns get stolen and get used by criminals.”

The majority of gang crime deaths are done with guns much bigger than a small revolver someone keeps for protection. There are entire SYNDICATES in the business of furnishing uzies and glocks and such to the criminals. I agree — put THOSE guys out of business.

But deny the right to carry a gun to a responsible tax paying citizen so we can “get rid of all guns” ?

That’s insane. Naive.

And as overused as the phrase is, “guns dont kill people, people kill people.”

And lets not forget “If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.” Well, outlaws and the government. The average citizen will be left with nothing but sharp sticks and rocks.

The real problem in McKeesport and our COUNTRY is our legal system. Victims are put on trial and the aggressors have “rights”. Cops try and persuade the victims from pressing charges because its a hassle for them. Then, its a hassle for a victim to proceed with pressing charges, so many drop out and say “what’s the point”. Then , if and when a violator is found guilty, they can appeal a half dozen times. If they even have to face a sentence rather than community service or “treatment”, it is relatively light (unless it was a cop that was killed or hurt, then they get life….because a cop’s life is worth more than yours or mine, right?).

You want drug related crime to go away? Make drugs legal. We already have legalized nicotine and alcohol, which are as addictive and life-destroying as weed or other drugs. Regulate it but not so much that it is hard to get, tax it (solves all sorts of money issues for cities) and be done with it. If drugs are LEGAL and AVAILABLE to those who want/need them, the criminal have less OPPORTUNITY to make money. Less opportunity for money means less use of guns and fewer deaths.

Vice has ALWAYS been the cause of crime and death.

People ALWAYS find ways to fulfill their wants for vice.

So make it easy to get and let the adults deal with their choices. STOP LEGISLATING MORALITY because everyone has a different idea of what morality is.

If a grown adult wants to use drugs, why should you or I care unless it directly affects us? And if it does, such as in drunk driving, the penalty should be SEVERE, not a slap on the wrist and community service. Then people will learn. If people know there are QUICK and SEVERE penalties for doing a crime, they will be less likely to do it.

As it stands, we outlaw what they want so they get it however they can and then the criminals are barely punished.

Then people wonder why we have deaths in the streets.
Shadango - August 08, 2012



Many good points. BUT ... a couple of rebuttals:

1.) Where did I say “ban” guns? Too many guns, too many cheap guns. But I never said “ban.” Restrictions on sales — or better methods of tracking guns — do not need to equal “bans.”

2.) You complain that the accused have “rights.” While the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms, the Fifth and Sixth Amendments guarantee the rights of the accused to due process, legal defense, a speedy trial, etc. One “right” is not more important than another “right.”

3.) I would disagree that Pennsylvania has strict gun controls:

- There are no permits required to purchase any type of gun in Pennsylvania.

- There is no requirement to register the purchase of any gun.

- There is no requirement to report the theft of a gun.

- There are no regulations on military-style assault weapons.

- Open-carry of all weapons is permitted without a permit.

- The state can (and routinely does) overrule local regulations on gun registration or ownership.

We can argue whether any of those are things we should or want to do, but when gun control opponents complain about gun control, those are the kinds of things they generally oppose — and Pennsylvania has none of them.
Jason - August 08, 2012



It may be a matter of semantics, and the Constitution is a fantastic document in that regard, but the Second Amendment does not explicitly guarantee the right to keep and bear arms.

To wit:
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

I take this to mean that the right of a well-regulated militia to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, in the interest of protecting the country from oppression.

It is assumed that Jabar Ford, who was killed this past Monday evening, was not a foreign national, and likewise the government was not in danger of being overthrown. It is also assumed that whomever killed him was not a member of a well-regulated militia.
John - August 09, 2012



I don’t disagree, John, but the Supreme Court (D.C. v. Heller, 2008) has ruled otherwise. Of course, it’s the same court that ruled that money is equivalent to speech, but like it or not, it’s the law of the land.

And Associate Justice Antonin Scalia recently said that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individual citizens to own any kind of firearm that can be reasonably carried by one person — up to and including rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

I await the day when 17-year-old kids on Bailie Avenue are armed with those. God bless America!
Jason - August 09, 2012



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