Crime in Philly

Classical Values is looking at the skyrocketing Philly murder rate and is noticing something that will surprise very few pro-gunners: the killers are all ex-cons who procured their guns illegally. Unfortunately people like Police Commission Sylvester Johnson don't seem to make the connection:

"At this point, right now, we have over 32,000 people in Philly who have permits to carry (and) actually walk the streets of Philly with a gun. We only have 6,400 police officers. We're outnumbered nearly 5-to-1 with people who are on the streets with guns," Johnson said.

No, the police are outnumbered 5-to-1 by law abiding citizens with guns. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The scary thing is that both groups are probably outnumbered by armed criminals. Unfortunately Johnson doesn't realize that law abiding citizens able to defend themselves and others are not liabilities, they are assets. That the media doesn't connect the dots is even more unfortunate. It's a shame really.

The scary thing is that no one seems to be looking at why the murder rate is skyrocketing. Everyone looks to blame guns, but shootings are largely a symptom. If guns disappeared today, we'd see them replaced by clubbings and stabbings within a month. The real issue is where is this violence coming from? And who is looking at that? Since the violence is tightly contained within a few Philadelphia neighborhoods, I'm betting it is the result of the city's perennial economic troubles and/or criminals fighting over local territory. My guess is that you could look at the victims and killers and find out a lot.