Chicago’s murder numbers have hit that magic 500. Baltimore’s murder toll has passed 200. In Philly, it’s up to 324, the highest since 2007. In Detroit, it’s approaching 400, another record. In New Orleans, it’s almost at 200. New York City is down to 414 from 508. In Los Angeles, it’s over 500. In St. Louis it’s 113 and 130 in Oakland. It’s 121 in Memphis and 76 in Birmingham.
Washington, D.C., home of the boys and girls who can solve it all, is nearing its own big 100.
Those 12 cities alone account for nearly 3,200 dead and nearly a quarter of all murders in the United States. And we haven’t even visited sunny Atlanta or chilly Cleveland.
Read the full story here. (h/t Tom Givens)
Really, go read the story. While the Obama-bashing and editorializing detract some from the article, the facts and data presented in the article are undeniable, as is the conclusion.
Furthermore, it demonstrates that any sort of “gun control” legislation will be ineffective because most of the people perpetuating gun violence are criminals to begin with and won’t obey your laws.
So again, mind your data. Think about these deeper root causes of violence (like in Austin). Work to address those deeper issues, those actual root causes.
Stuff From Hsoi 
I’ve been serving on a grand jury for the past 4 months and am still shocked at how many of the, ahem, ‘persons of interest’ are recidivists with gang affiliations of some sort (or cartel).
What the masses don’t know… what the mass media refuses to report… but it’s the way it is. There are those of us that know these things, there are those of us that have a clue about these things, yet, when it comes to “gun control policy” they turn to people with no idea about guns, crime, etc. to make policy.
It’d be like asking climate change deniers to make policy about climate change… which they would obviously see the stupidity in doing. But you know, double-standards are fine when they serve our ends. *sigh*