Homicide In America At Epidemic Proportions

August 30, 2016 - Kevin Harley

When Nykea Aldridge was gunned down in front of her children’s school on Friday in Chicago, the gun debate was thrust once again into the spotlight in America. The reason her killing has made national news is because her cousin is the Miami Heat’s star Dwyane Wade.

If it wasn’t for her relationship to Wade, she would be just another faceless victim to the rest of the nation and Chicago, with the exception of her children, family and friends. A sad but true indictment of what is taking place in that city.

The website jackass.com has what they call the Chicago Shot Clock. Unfortunately it is the statistics of gun violence there. According to their website, a person in Chicago is shot every 2 hours 3 minutes. A person is murdered by a gun every 11 hours 56 minutes. That is insane. Especially considering that they have among the toughest gun laws in the nation.

So how can that be? And what solution should we take?

According to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Nominee, and President Barack Obama, the answer is to make gun legislation more restrictive. Make it harder to get guns. But perhaps, either they don’t have a clue about gun violence, or their agenda is something far more sinister than what they claim it to be.

The answer to gun violence isn’t making it harder for citizens who are law abiding to acquire them. In fact the inverse is true. Arm the citizens. Let them protect themselves and their property and their families. But what these Clinton and Obama wish to do is to decrease the number of guns that private citizens can own.

At a private fundraising event in New York City, Hillary Clinton said the following. “The Supreme Court is wrong about the Second Amendment, and I am going to make that case every chance I get.” Wait just a minute. The Second Amendment to the Constitutions, part of the Bill of Rights, states, “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”

The founding fathers were pretty clear in this amendment. Militia's are necessary to the security of a free State. The term State does not refer to the federal government. Instead it refers to the State being able to protect itself and it’s citizens from the federal government. The founding fathers, like it or not, wrote a document to centralize the power to the hands of the States. The federal government had limited powers. The federal government didn’t even have the authority to tax citizens. Don’t get me started on that because the 16th Amendment actually was never ratified by the States. Check the actual voting records at each State, you will find that it never received the required two-thirds votes. But I digress.

The second part of the Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. I am not sure if Hillary Clinton actually means that the Supreme Court got it wrong or that the founding fathers got it wrong. Either way, this statement should send a shockwave through every person in America.

Clinton is openly defying the Constitution of this country. She is stating that the Bill of Rights are of no concern. If she is this casual about number 2, what about the others, like number 1? Is she going to say that the Supreme Court got that wrong as well?

I agree that certain people shouldn’t have access to guns. People who are mentally unstable to the point that they pose a danger to themselves or the community. People who are convicted of any gun crime, drug crime, home invasion or burglary shouldn’t have access to guns either. And of course, any terrorist convictions, treason, etc., shouldn’t have access to guns either.

If stricter guns laws aren’t the answer, then what is? A revamping of the laws that currently exist. A comprehensive law that eliminates all other gun laws. A gun law that does not threaten the ability for citizens to purchase guns. We are not the threat.

Part of that legislation must have mandatory sentencing guidelines. Now I know the liberal faction has shivers running down their spines hearing this and so do the conservative group. But let's break it down. The overwhelming facts about gun violence in America is based on two things. First, criminals will always get their hands on guns. Secondly, we have such pansy judges on the bench who always want to give these thugs another chance has to change.

I am not saying we take away mercy from our judicial system. What I am saying, is to stop the extreme violence on the streets, something similar to these sentencing guidelines should be implemented,because our judges refuse to take action and they must be forced to help protect the citizens and not these criminals.

If a person takes an actual gun to a crime, they get a mandatory ten years in prison. No parole. No time for good behavior. If a person has a gun in the commission of a drug offense, fifteen years no parole. If a person discharges a weapon in the commission of an actual crime, twenty years mandatory sentence. If a person wounds someone the mandatory sentence is thirty five years. And if the kill someone, life without parole or the death penalty. Either one.

Are these sentencing guidelines harsh? You bet. Are they fair? Well let’s ask the people of Chicago who have a death rate of one person every 11 hours 56 minutes. I don’t think that we should worry as much about the rights of the criminals in these types of cases, as we should the rights of the victims.

What about the cost of housing these prisoners? It will more than offset the cost of medical expenses. Again, according to jackass.com, as of July 31, 2016, the medical cost of the victims of gun violence has reached $133,066,200.00. Yes, you read that number correctly.

Folks, this isn’t a feel good issue. This is a crisis of mammoth proportions, and if we don’t get it under control now, it will continue to spill into other cities. Baltimore, New Orleans already have horrific homicide rates by guns, and again they have very restrictive laws.

This is not a race issue either, this is an issue of crime. The people who commit the crime, commit the crime. You can’t change facts based on gender or race. It is what it is, like it or not.

But unless we get serious about sentencing guidelines for these criminals more and more blood will spill onto the streets.

I urge all of you to contact your Congressman, Senators and State Representatives and demand that they take action similar to what I have described.