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48 NYC shootings in a weekend: Trend or random tragedy?
It was a very bloody Labor Day weekend in New York. Forty-eight people were shot, including two law enforcement officers and a woman who was sitting with her daughter on a Brooklyn building stoop. The officers survived; three people have died.
The high number of shootings has captured headlines and led some to wonder whether there's some specific explanation for the violence.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there is, and he said Tuesday that lawmakers in the nation's capital ought to do something to better control gun violence. New York state reportedly had some of the strictest gun laws in the country, but Bloomberg wants Washington's help. He spoke outside a hospital where the officers were being treated.
"This is a national problem requiring national leadership," he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "But at the moment, neither end of Pennsylvania Avenue has the courage to take basic steps that would save lives."
Jon M. Shane, an assistant professor at one of America's most highly regarded policing think tanks, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, cautioned against drawing any conclusions from the numbers alone. Shane spent 20 years with the police department in Newark, New Jersey, which has consistently ranked as one of the most violent cities in the United States.
"I would caution against chalking this up to violence that is going to happen over any holiday weekend," Shane said, adding that thorough analysis of each Labor Day weekend shooting should be done to extrapolate concrete explanations that go beyond the particulars of each incident. One would need to research possible motives in each case and investigate suspects' backgrounds and their possible criminal affiliations. Previous crimes at the locations should be weighed from every angle.
In short, 48 shootings sounds like a lot, but drawing any large conclusions, or linking them to a larger trend, will take time.
The woman and the officers were shot Monday hours after the West Indian American Day Parade ended in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. According to the New York Post, two men were "slap boxing" before a shootout in which police became involved. In all, nine people in the area of the parade were shot.
Several people were shot in the Bronx on Sunday. Some of the wounded were children. Four people were shot Monday in Flatbush, Brooklyn, one teenager fatally.
The weekend's bloodshed put a fine point on figures the FBI released in May showing that violent crime was down throughout the country in the past year but up in New York. The New York Police Department released its own report in January, available in full here (PDF), which visually lays out all of the city's 536 homicides in 2010.
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"Monkey killing monkey killing monkey.
Over pieces of the ground.
Silly monkeys give them thumbs.
They make a club.
And beat their brother, down.
How they survive so misguided is a mystery." --- Tool (Right in Two)
"The high number of shootings has captured headlines and led some to wonder whether there's some specific explanation for the violence."
Yeah, uneducated, fatherless minorities.
I wouldn't pinpoint it to minorities at all. There are a LOT of useless white kids out there too. The problem is with the parents who just can't get it through their heads that you have to raise your children. You don't need to beat them at every hint of a problem but for goodness sake, spend some time with them and teach them right from wrong, self-reliance and personal responsibility.
Amen Wil!
But wait, there can't be gun related violence in NYC because they have the strictest gun control laws in the country. You must be mistaken. Perhaps if they pass ANOTHER anti-gun law, the violence will stop (insert "Sarcasm" sign here).
Like!
This represent the growing cultural problem in our society that has been placed on the "politically incorrect" list to talk about. As Jesse says, "it is inside the family". As cultural problems often do, it will take decades to correct and the lack of guns will not stop it. The problem is here for your lifetime so get used to it.
For all of you pointing to this as a reason to have gun control, check out the latest FBI statisics. The Cities (NY) and States (CA) with the highest level of gun control have the highest crime rates. The rest of the country had a major decrease in the instances of violant crime. This happened during a growth in gun ownership and the number of people with the right to carry in public. And this has been going on for years, Bloomburg and the rest of the gun control community don't want the public to know this. It makes them look wrong. Just saying......
Perfect response to the article and comments contained herein.
How about we shoot the corrupt politicians and cops that look the other way and benefit from illegal guns being funneled into the city. Kill the root not the tree.
Bloomberg is a moron – NY already has strict gun laws. News flash: when CRIMINALS (say a drug dealer) has a gun, who cares, they are already in voilation of other laws. The only thing strict gun laws do is restrict the ability of law abiding citizens to own guns which they can use to lawfully protect themselves and their property.
You have people without records buying guns and then selling them to drug dealers for large profits. No one needs more than two guns since we only have two hands.
Yeah ~ way to go ~ the straight NRA party line of armed citizens protecting themselves. Page 2 NRA bs book
Too bad most guns in NYC are transported form southern states where it is easier to get the guns.
Oh please! Two gun limit? How about if we impose a one hat limit since you only have one head. Guns are readily available worldwide and criminals will do whatever it takes to get them, even manufacturing their own. Old guys like me remember well how street gangmembers could make a zip gun out of an old fashioned car antenna that would fire .22 ammo. Unarmed people are like sheep to the wolves.
"New York state reportedly had some of the strictest gun laws in the country..." Proof positive that gun control laws don't work. Punish the criminal, not the gun owner!
You obviously dont understand how it works. Problem is most guns in NYC are transported up from the southern states on I-95 where guns are easier to get.
At least we know gun control works.
thank goodness most of the perps are bad aims
GUN CONTROL YOU REPUBLIKKKANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hmmm, yeah, more gun laws is just what this situation calls for, since the existing guns laws have proven to be totally useless. Ohhh that's right, criminals don't give a rat's ass about breaking the law.....might as well make up a law that makes it illegal to inhale in NY and make the rest of the poulation criminals, too....
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Do not let this parade occur again! The crowd is out of control!
The hate radiating from most comments on this & other blogs makes you wonder how long would it be before this nation brought to greatness by diversity, is consumed by this loathing of diversity, racism, fear & phobia.
Our lust for wars and penchant for violence has already gotten us onto the road to decline.
God Bless & save America.