Following a shootout on Wednesday between Philadelphia police officers and a career criminal gunman, the city’s mayor, Jim Kenney, again blamed the National Rifle Association. “If the state and federal government don’t want to stand up to the NRA and some other folks, then let us police ourselves,” he said.
Kenney thus chose posturing over serious action.
If we really want to fix urban gun violence, we need to address conditions that encourage that violence. That means recognizing the often grossly population-disproportionate urban gun violence by black men against other black men. From that starting point, it means addressing poor educational opportunities and racial sentencing disparities. Those concerns deny too many black kids the ability to gain skills they can use to live prosperous lives, thus making the appeal of criminality greater.
Sentencing disparities have also served to deny too many black kids the chance to have a father in their lives.
Yet these are human beings with full agency who fire these shots, for any number of stupid reasons — they feel disrespected, their gang allegiance requires it, etc. This is a cultural malady. And the statistics from Philadelphia tell the tale. A 2019 report for the Philadelphia government found, “Gun violence in Philadelphia disproportionately involves black men – nearly 75% of all victims and known perpetrators are young black men. Homicide is the leading cause of death for young Black men ages 15 to 34.”
The most recent government estimate suggests that only 43.7% of Philadelphia residents are black.
Increased gun control, as Chicago’s highly restrictive gun laws prove, is ultimately a poor solution to this crisis. Criminals will access guns because guns are already in abundant supply. A more cost-effective way to make people stop using them against each other in our cities would be to invest in strengthening a more positive culture alongside greater opportunity.
The culture point is almost always ignored, yet its importance cannot be overstated. Consider the experience of the officers being shot at on Wednesday. The police were trying to protect the community and took six casualties in doing so. But video from the scene shows more than a few officers being accosted by black residents. Something similar has also been going on this summer in New York City.
Black Americans deserve great schools and safe neighborhoods, and they don’t have them now. And to blame the police or gun laws for this, or for the majority of lost black lives, would be to spread fiction.
