Politicians know that the gangs are reason for the deaths. Calling it “gun violence” is much safer, especially in wards where gangs often provide political muscle.

“Have you ever heard a Chicago alderman call out a street gang by name?” O’Connor asked. “No? Me neither.”

Statistics, data, numbers — they’re nice, but without context you can’t properly interpret them. As well, you can certainly twist numbers to suit whatever end you wish to satisfy. It’s important to look deeper (or at least take raw numbers for what they are).

The Chicago Tribune takes a deeper look at “gun violence” in its own city.

“The shooter was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23,” O’Connor said. “And the victim was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23. So what’s changed since the ’90s? Not much, the same social pathology, and the police are expected to clean it up.”

Some call it “gun violence,” a definition greatly appreciated by Democratic politicians like those at City Hall. They can point to guns and take that voter anger over homicide numbers and channel it into a safe space.

But there are plenty of guns in the suburbs, and suburbanites aren’t slaughtering each other.

It’s the gang wars.

So where is the real problem? Is it merely “gun ownership”? Will “gun control”, “gun bans”, and the like solve this problem? Or are we identifying the wrong problem – perhaps for political reasons – and thus chasing the wrong, and thus ineffective, solution?

Making it worse:

Police were investigating reports of a shooting in bloody Englewood when about 10 young men confronted them, harassed them, mocked them on the street, hurling epithets, angry, defiant.

“Every cop saw that video,” O’Connor said. “One big difference is that now, on the street, there is no fear. Even in the ’90s, with all the killing, the gangs feared the police. When we’d show up, they’d run. But now? Now they don’t run. Now, there is no fear.”

Make of it what you will.

But at least when searching for Truth, dig deeper. It may uncover uncomfortable or ugly truths, but it’s how we will find real solutions.