Greatest Fear of Kids in Chicago? Getting Shot

I love my city. This is not news to anyone who reads this blog. But it also can be a dangerous place, particularly if you live in a low-income neighborhood. And if you happen to be unlucky enough to be a kid growing up in one of those neighborhoods, you can live in nothing less than a perpetual prison.

Asked how her life would be different if there were no guns in her city, a 7th grader said "It would be wonderful because I wouldn't have to go outside thinking I could get shot at any minute and there would be no more of me."

Eighth grader Rosalind said "Oh my god. If my community had no gangbangers, no guns, no dangers, it would be very cool. The reason is because we would be able to dress however we want. We will be able to play where ever we wanted. We would be free to do whatever. There would be more block parties without gunshots. No more people getting scared of letting their children go outside and play. There would be children out in the streets playing and laughing. You would see smiles and laughs and children all around."


When the Supreme Court struck down the Washington DC gun ban law in July, it basically signaled to all the other places with similar laws that their laws would probably go down as well. Including Chicago's.

Indeed, probably mere minutes after the decision was handed down, the Illinois Rifle Association sued the mayor and the city to overturn the 26 year ban. Our very own Mayor Daley of course vowed to fight it.


But for a city where all you have to do is cross the county line to buy a handgun, or drive 20 minutes to Indiana, pardon me for asking, but what the hell is the point in a handgun ban?

Now, I'm not saying we should go this far, and mandate that all 3 million Chicagoans carry handguns, but it's pretty obvious to me, and it must be pretty obvious to those kids who live in perpetual fear for their lives, that the gun control ban isn't working.

I've yet to see proof that any gun control legislation anywhere deters crime.

Instead, gun control laws mean that you have a lack of registered guns, or you have guns registered outside of the state, and it virtually guarantees a flourishing black market.

Kind of like the drug trade.

I absolutely believe that guns are dangerous, and should be regulated, but I'm not convinced that you can ban them successfully in a locale.

Unless you ban them everywhere.

And somehow, I don't see that happening in this country.


This debate is stale. It needs to be looked at with fresh eyes and a new approach. It shouldn't be about winning a legal debate about something that obviously isn't working. Maybe instead of spending the millions of dollars to fight this case, the city of Chicago should put that money into programs that have been shown to work - like Crossfire. Or, god forbid, work-programs or education, so that people have other choices but gangs in the first place.

The articles I've linked to on top are worth going to, because they carry a photo gallery of children's drawings and how they perceive their life being. It reminds me of a another set of drawings that I saw by children in the gallery at Spertus - those of Sudanese orphans from Darfur drawing about their attacks by the Jamjaweed.