A shooting in DC leaves four dead and another six injured on March 30th. Authorities say that this is related to gang violence. The police chased these shooters for hours until finally arresting the three men. Metro Police Chief Cathy Lanier says "We've made a lot of progress to stop gang retaliation and violence, and in the end if this ends up being some kind of gang retaliation -- then shame on all of us."
I wonder how much the government can really do to prevent gang violence. Am I underestimating the government? The details aren't clear yet because the Metro Police have declined to release much information. Regardless, I think it is unfortunate that ten people were shot and four dead.
4 comments:
I thought gangs had basically died out. I mean, I know they're still around, but it seems like there's been a sudden surge in the number of gang-violence related issues that come up in the news lately.
I found this site with some stats about gang violence in America with some charts from the National Drug Threat Survey in 2004-2008.
http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs32/32146/gangs.htm
I knew that were still gangs around, and I think what they did at my middle school was pretty good against gangs. What they did was have a pretty sociable police officer come in and talk to us about gangs for a few weeks. We did pretty fun activities and learned about the terrible life of gang members. I think if the government can invest some money on this tactic, maybe the membership of gangs will go down. However, getting education and helping the people in poverty still is a huge factor in stamping the gangs' influences.
-Henry Zhang
Henry, that sounds like a great idea that might actually work. However, I feel that it's important to do said preventive measures at an even earlier age. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that sometimes even in middle school, children lose their innocence. It seems that kids are growing up earlier and faster than ever before. This is why I propose that we should do what Henry said... but in elementary school.
I agree with Preston, he makes a great point about kids growing up faster these days. I think the earlier we start educating kids about violence/gangs, drugs, and alcohol abuse, the better and more effective these preventive actions will be.
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