Another Mayor Says: Thousands are Killed by Guns

 Mayor Hodges of Minneapolis is all wet.

I recently wrote about Mayor Sly James of Kansas City saying that "Too much violence is committed by guns".   I was skeptical that he had actually said that, because the Mayor is a well educated man, and served on active duty as a Marine.   It is a nonsensical statement to say that violence is committed "by" guns.   It transfers volition and responsibility to an inanimate object.  But, with another Mayor saying much the same thing, I begin to wonder.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsey Hodges, at a "Gun Violence" conference in Milwaukee, used the same improper transfer of volition to inanimate objects.  As reported by jsonline.com:

Hodges said urban gun violence is a moral issue, with thousands of teenagers killed each year by guns, as well as a political issue, because most victims and suspects have similar backgrounds, including criminal histories.

No, Mayor Hodges, the teenagers are not "killed each year by guns".  They may be killed "with" guns, but the difference is crucial.   They are killed each year by each other, primarily.   It is not a lack of jobs or education that causes them to kill each other.   It is a lack of responsibility for their actions, a lack of respect for themselves and others and their property, and a lack of respect for the rule of law, that causes them to kill each other.

The lack of responsibility, respect, and the rule of law have numerous causes, but primary among them are the "progressive" policies that have been implemented in the last 50 years.  Those policies implicitly preach that they have no responsibility for their actions,  a father is of no help in raising responsible children, that the rule of law is repressive, and that working is a form of slavery.

These policies have created an urban frontier where the new "tribes" are gangs that view everyone outside the gang as enemies or prey.

Guns are just a scapegoat that is used to cover the failure of the political policies of the last 50 years.  Politicians cannot admit the failure of these policies, because they have invested their lives and careers in them.   The politicians live lives insulated from the effects of their policies.   It is everyone else that has to pay.

 ©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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