re: Too Much Violence

[musicgeekstress]

Here's an article from today's Toronto Star regarding the issue of violence in the city and the public's persception of safety. It provides a rational argument against general feelings of fear I've been spouting lately and I hope that helps quell some anxieties.

Comments

[lordshipmayhem]

As a side note and attempt at humour, my chance of getting killed by my spouse is precisely zero, being single being something of an influencing factor in the calculation. ^_

[musicgeekstress]

My opinion is that the punishment does not match the crime. To people who already live in sub-par conditions jail is like an upgrade-- better living conditions, police protection from the outside. I've never been a proponent of capital punishment but sometimes it feels like our jail system is like a slap on the wrist.
I know that the conservatives and the gun enthusiasts say that most hand-gun related crime is performed by unregistered guns (funny that they usually want to get rid of the registry until they can use it to hide behind) but in my opinion handguns really are useless as they serve no purpose other than to kill human beings. If handguns could be banned then police would have a stronger case for cracking down on people who use handguns to kill.
Couldn't we just ban guns in Ontario? They banned Pit Bulls. Why can something stupid and pointless get accomplished when it's so hard to curb something that is a more obvious threat?

[liradralyn]

When David and I were walking on Yonge St. yesterday (before you guys came over), I saw a beautiful impromptu memorial for John O'Keefe (the man who was shot outside the bar). It was a large pile of flowers surrounding a sign that read something like "John O'Keefe, the law-abiding citizens of Toronto apologize... yet again."

That about says it all.

[musicgeekstress]

It's true, statistics seem meaningless in lieu of the loss of innocent human lives. I agree with Gary that one fatality is too much. These 2 incidents happened for moronic reasons and I really do fear that it is getting worse, despite the fact that we've been facing problems with gun violence for years. It feels so insurmountable sometimes. I just want to grab those kids and wring them by their necks, but there are so many of them. Where does it end?