Disarm the criminals

Memphis knows a thing or two about gun violence. The Bluff City began 2016 literally with a bang, when 12 homicides occurred in the first two weeks of January. Every victim was shot, and four were children.

In an effort to address teen gun violence, the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County implemented a CeaseFire program this week targeting youth charged with gun possession.

It's a successful approach undertaken by other metro areas over the past 15 years at reducing teen homicides and giving juveniles a second chance before gun violence ruins their lives. It also showcases a key factor: When guns are brought to minor crimes, they often turn into major crimes.

Over here in Arkansas, it's always a cringe moment when rankings for violent crime, and especially gun violence, make the rounds.

Our state, unfortunately, still stubbornly scores disproportionately high in both categories. In one sub-category--women killed by gun violence--Arkansas is ranked worse than 47 other states. And here as in the rest of the nation, gun homicides constitute the majority of all homicides.

But the tired chorus of "gun control" advocacy repeats its ridiculous refrain: devising and directing restrictive laws at law-abiding citizens. Regulating to a higher degree the possession of firearms among people who aren't committing crimes has zero effect on criminal gun violence.

A lot of the grandstanding on this issue is made by people who have never really been around guns much.

In rural states, guns often go with the territory, especially in families with sportsmen. Kids who grow up with guns tend to also develop a greater degree of gun safety training and respect for firearms. But in urban states, and even urbanized areas of rural states like Arkansas, a lot of young people know virtually nothing about guns except what they see on TV, movies or video games.

That translates into a very bad scenario that plays out over and over: an untrained kid holding a gun in a tense, volatile criminal situation. In the world of crime-data analysis, that tough-talking kid with a shaky grip is counted the same as a cold-blooded repeat offender.

Statistical reporting on gun homicides typically categorize incidents by suicide, intentional homicide or accident.

Suicide is less a gun crime than a mental health issue (suicidal people without access to guns are still suicidal), and gun accidents are exceedingly rare when compared to gun homicides.

But when crime reporting assumes all intentional homicides are truly intentional, it overlooks a very important fourth category. That's when the criminal didn't really intend to shoot anybody, and the only reason his crime turned into a shooting was because he brought a gun along.

Anybody who's ever been around guns a lot knows that--every now and then--a gun will discharge unintentionally. It's a very scary thing, to have a gun go off when you didn't expect it to. Maybe it's a hair trigger on a new handgun you haven't gotten used to yet. Maybe it's a stumble when you thought a shotgun was on safety.

Certain firearm safety rules exist precisely as a foil to the inevitable unintentional discharge (always point the muzzle in a safe direction, never point a gun at anything you don't intend to destroy, always assume a gun is loaded, etc.). When those rules are observed, an unintentional discharge is alarming--but not harmful.

But young street thugs don't have a dad or granddad teaching them how to handle guns. They mistakenly confuse guns with toughness, and view their "piece" as a tool of bravado. They like waving a handgun around, pointing it at people, because they equate weaponry with authority.

Sometimes, the gun they're recklessly gesturing with is cocked, with a hair trigger. A sudden frightened jerk at a noise, and--bang--someone gets shot.

Sure, lots of shooters with malice aforethought will say "it was an accident" just to try and beat the rap. But some are telling the truth. Their intent wasn't murder, only intimidation.

That's why laws need to be weighted heaviest against illegal gun possession, especially by youth.

Programs like CeaseFire are too often too late. In the MADD fashion, which used both public stigma and draconian punishments to drastically pre-empt drunk driving, we need to figure out what punitive measures can keep wayward kids from ever picking up a gun in the first place.

More often than we tend to think, criminal teens are guilty most of just wanting to be regarded as "bad-asses." They have bad attitudes, not murderous hearts. Convince them a gun is a sure path to misery and pain, rather than prestige and gain in crime, and they'll figure out a way to steal, burgle and rumble without packing heat.

"Back in the day, we used to fight," one neighbor of a teen shooting victim in Memphis said. "Now a lot of people got guns and they're not supposed to have them."

If the gun-control crowd would focus its considerable energy and resources on disarming those people--instead of their law-abiding victims--we'd see real gains in reducing gun violence.

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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.

Editorial on 04/29/2016

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