To
read the full letter to the editor, go to: Stop
gun violence
The
Chicago Tribune,
November 7, 2007
Girl,
6, accidentally shot in the chest in Oak Forest home
By Dan
Blake
An Oak
Forest girl is recovering this morning after a friend of her mother
accidentally shot the 6-year-old in the chest while "showing off" a gun
Tuesday night, police said.
A 21-year-old man was visiting the girl's mother in their home in the
15700 block of
South Lamon Avenue when he
began playing with a small caliber pistol around 7:15 p.m. in the living room and the gun went off, Oak Forest Police Chief
Dennis Olszewski said.
To
read the full article, go to: Girl,
6, accidentally shot in the chest in Oak Forest home
The
Chicago Tribune,
October 29, 2007
When
is a school lockdown needed?
By
Gerry Smith
…Six
months after the Virginia Tech shootings, and just days after a student
in Cleveland shot four people in his downtown high school, the incident
at Morton West underscores the ongoing debate over campus security and
the judgment call that school officials are forced to make following a
gun threat…
To
read the full article, go to: When is a school lockdown needed?
The
Chicago Tribune,
October 29, 2007
With
no permit, activists rally at gun shop again
By Emma
Graves Fitzsimmons
Protesters were back at a south suburban gun store on Saturday to rally
for gun control while the march's organizers defiantly refused to pay
Riverdale police for a permit.
Organizers said the fee was excessive.
Rev. Michael Pfleger has staged frequent protests at Chuck's Gun Shop
since May with Rev. Jesse Jackson, who could not be there on Saturday.
The men say they are bringing attention to the availability of guns in
suburban communities that are used on
Chicago streets.
To read the full article, go to: With
no permit, activists rally at gun shop again
The
Chicago Tribune,
September 18, 2007
More than 600 Firearms Seized in
Mundelein Arrest
Tribune Staff Report
In what is believed to be the largest gun bust in
Lake
County history, undercover police seized more than 600 weapons from the
home of a Mundelein man who allegedly was illegally selling guns from
his residence, authorities said Monday.
The
Chicago Tribune,
August 30, 2007
Gun Arrests
Stun School: Small Town Faces a Big-City Reality
By Jo Napolitano Tribune staff reporter
PONTIAC, Ill. - Students at Pontiac Township High School, shocked
by the discovery of six guns on campus a day earlier, were greeted
Wednesday with something else they had never encountered at their
pristine rural school: hand-held metal detectors being waved across
their book bags.
To read the full article, go to:
Gun
Arrests Stun School: Small Town Faces a Big-City Reality
The Chicago Tribune, July
14, 2007
Letter to the Editor: Stop killing kids
By Tiffany Lewis, Age 18, Youth leader, UCAN
I am outraged and can't keep quiet about it anymore! I'm getting ready
to leave for college in a few weeks, and all I can think about is the
killing that just won't stop.
So many children have been killed by people who shouldn't have guns,
who got guns illegally, who took them to places where guns shouldn't be
and who used the guns to kill people who shouldn't have to worry about
getting to or from wherever they were safely.
The Chicago Tribune, June 27, 2007
Editorial: The Summer Killing Season
- Festival-goers, wear
sunscreen, and take care to protect yourselves from the heat.
- Party hosts, make sure your porches are structurally safe for your
guests.
- And please, everyone, no illegal fireworks, no speeding on city
streets, no opening fire hydrants to cool off the kids.
Lightning flared in the distance Tuesday afternoon as officials from
several of Chicago's city departments held their summer safety news
conference on a Grant Park street barricaded for Taste of Chicago. They
did their jobs well and offered good advice. They didn't, however,
offer the advice that many of this city's police officers and
paramedics probably would give:
- Check your children's rooms, cars and clothing for guns or
ammunition.
- Find better ways for your neighborhood to let gangbangers know the
killing has to stop.
- Call it snitching if you will. But stop letting killers roam your
streets. The sooner all citizens of this city start telling cops about
gang members' weapons caches, safe houses and dope stashes, the more
relentlessly law enforcement can move to quell the violence. Start
snitching.
The Chicago
Tribune, June 26, 2007
I was powerless to do anything
By Alexa
Aguilar, Antonio Olivo and Azam Ahmed, Tribune staff reporters
Surrounded by dozens of playing children, Schanna Gayden and her cousin
lingered at a Logan Square playground Monday evening, enjoying a snack
from a nearby fruit cart. They heard what sounded like firecrackers,
and Katie Wilson, Schanna's cousin, started to run. When she looked
back, Schanna, 13, was lying bleeding on the ground.
Police say Schanna was caught in the crossfire of rival gangs, who
claim the street that runs through the Funston Elementary playground as
the border of their turf. Police on Tuesday arrested a 19-year-old
reputed gang member who they say shot Schanna and have another person
in custody who might be involved.
The
Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2007
Slain Students Symbolize Aim to Stop Killings
By Andrew Wang, Tribune staff reporter
Each name held a story of a young life cut short by violence.
Dantel Curtis, Troy Law, Lazarus Jones. Tashema Nero, Toreon Baker,
Blair Holt.
Carrying placards showing the names of 31 students killed during the
last school year and marching to the slow, solemn cadence of two snare
drums, activists took to the streets of the Far South Side on Sunday
afternoon to call for tighter gun-control measures and an end to gang
violence.
The Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2007
Anti-gang Rallies in City, Suburbs
By John Keilman, Tribune staff reporter
Perched on BMX bicycles in their South Side neighborhood, Kenneth Brown
and Vincent Richardson felt perfectly safe Saturday morning, thanks to
dozens of police officers and community activists filling the street
for an anti-violence march.
The
Chicago Tribune, May 31, 2007
A Year of Violence: Toll of Students Killed Reaches 28
Since the beginning of the school year in September, at least 28
Chicago Public Schools students have been killed. Here is a list of
those who have been identified so far this year:
Fernando Haywood, 17, Fenger High School
On Sept. 11, less than a week after school started, Fernando was shot
in the back and the neck on the Far South Side, police said. A junior,
Fernando was known as friendly and polite toward teachers.
To read the full article, go to:
A Year of Violence: Toll of Students Killed Reaches 28
The Springfield State Journal-Register, May 3, 2007
Letter to the Editor – Jerie Beth Karkos, M.D., “Common-sense Laws
Can Curb Violence”
I applaud the efforts of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to
close loopholes in current laws, so that those with severe, unstable
mental health problems are not able to access guns easily – from a gun
dealer, a neighbor, or off the streets. We need more elected officials
to step up and look for ways to prevent these tragedies.
To
read the full letter, go to:
http://www.sj-r.com/subs/logon.asp?page=http://www.sj-r.com/secure/index.asp
The Chicago Defender, May 3, 2007
Letter to the Editor – Michael Robbins, Illinois Council on Handgun
Violence, “State Reps. Dropped the Ball on Handgun Bill”
This letter from Michael Robbins, former Chicago police officer and
victim of gun violence, discusses the handgun private transfer
background check bill, HB 758. Robbins notes that the bill lost by only
two votes, two which were from Chicago legislators in districts where
gun violence is more prevalent than in other communities. Robbins urges
people living in these districts and in African American communities to
contact these representatives and ask them why they did not vote for
this bill. Robbins concludes with a hope that these legislators will
change their votes when HB 758 comes up for another vote.
The
Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2007
Letter to the Editor – Nina Vinik, Legal Community Against Violence,
“Reducing Gun Access Helps”
Re "Controls don’t work," by Charles Madigan (Commentary, May 1):
In the wake of Virginia Tech, Charles Madigan poses a difficult
question: "Why has violence become so common in our culture?" Madigan
asks an important question, considering that approximately 80
gun-related deaths occur every day in our country.
Our culture is not unique. Violence rates in the U.S. are similar to
those in other high-income countries. What is unique is our level of
lethal violence and our murder rate. In the U.S., most lethal violence
is committed with firearms, especially handguns. Countries like New
Zealand, Australia and Canada have far fewer handguns and do a much
better job at regulating firearms. As a result, they have much lower
homicide rates. It is the easy access to guns, particularly handguns,
that makes our violent culture lethal.
To read the full letter, go to:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_opinion_letters/2007/05/reducing_gun_ac.html
The
Springfield State Journal-Register, May 1, 2007
Letter to the Editor – Dr. Jim Webster, M.D. President, Chicago Board
of Health “Common-sense Laws Would Curb Gun Violence”
I enthusiastically support the efforts of Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan reported in The State Journal-Register last Wednesday to
close loopholes in current laws so that those with mental health
problems are not able to get access to guns.
To read the full letter, go to:
http://www.sj-r.com/subs/logon.asp?page=http://www.sj-r.com/secure/index.asp
The Chicago
Tribune, April 27, 2007
Doctors Help
Buy Guns to Save Lives
By Joseph Ruzich
For 16 years, trauma surgeon Tom Esposito has seen countless gun
victims clinging to life as they are rushed through the doors of the
Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. But recently, he said,
many gun victims didn't even make it to the hospital.
