Following a Milwaukee Bucks NBA playoff game in Milwaukee, 21 people were shot and injured in three separate shooting incidents near the basketball arena and the neighboring entertainment district. This made big noise in Milwaukee and would have reached the national news as well, except, the Buffalo shootings that killed ten people and was racially motivated, pushed it off the front page.
And of course, Milwaukee has more than enough gun violence every day and it is bound and determined to set a new record in 2022 for gun deaths and gun injuries if current trends continue.
New Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is being pressed to do something. And after the Bucks incidents, he invoked a curfew for minors. Probably more a symbolic effort rather than an effective one but a very immediate and public response nonetheless. And he has been openly and publicly meeting with neighborhood groups and bringing the police chief front and center to combat gun violence (and reckless driving as well) in the city.
But as we see continued violence across the nation, including recent killings in Philadelphia and Chattanooga, I really don’t think we can put the onus for fixing the issue on local officials. Yes, they can bring us ideas and suggestions for solutions…but the big solution needs to come at the national level.
As I’ve said before, hardening schools isn’t the answer. The problem is societal. Locking doors and arming teachers won’t solve the shootings outside grocery stores, outside bars, or even outside of churches.
The United States needs to get over their fixation with bigger and more efficient means of killing each other. Sensible gun restrictions and out right bans on certain classes of weapons has to happen now.
NOW!
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