Chicago Gun Violence

Chicago has earned a lot of negative attention in recent years earning the infamous nickname “Chairs” due to the high rate of gun violence. In 2014, thus far it has been 1,775 reported shootings in Chicago In which 252 were fatal. That is extremely high given the fact that the year Isn’t over. Today Is September 8th; which also means this Is the 51st day in the year. That means someone, on average, was shot and killed every day of the year In Chicago. Those statistics do not even Include norm-gun related homicides.
If I was to Include those extra 48 homicides, the average deaths per day would be 1 . 2. If homicides were to continue at that rate, it could possibly be 436 murders by the end of the year. These numbers are very disturbing and hopefully something is done about that. When you observe Chicago in comparison to other cities, Chicago has always been in the top 5 for murders. One thing that has changed about that is in recent years it has been number one in murders which is another obstacle that holds Chicago back. In 2013, Chicago led the way with murders with 412 homicides.
New York was in second with 333, It Is eye catching that the Jump between 2nd place and 1st place was almost 100 homicides. Los Angels was not too far behind in 4th place with 255 homicides. Chicago In comparison to these other cycles Is a war zone. 2012 was even worse with 503 murders that year and this was the same year Chicago was given the title of Murder Capitol. The violence in Chicago is very serious, during the July 4th weekend 82 people were shot in which, 14 were fatal. It got to the point where Police

Superintendent Garry McCarthy was pressured to deploy National Guard. Back in 2012, Chicago gained national attention because of the death of Hading Pendleton, a 15 year old girl who had a lot of promise in her future. She was shot and killed a week after performing in the band at President Beam’s second inauguration. After, that tragic incident, she became the face of anti-gun violence in Chicago. Still to this day In Chicago, the death of young children and teenagers is still a problem. In fact, a 3 year old and 9 year old were shot this past week In Chicago.
The 3 year old survived but is in critical condition. It Is heartbreaking to hear incidents Like that constantly In the news. Earlier In the year, during Easter weekend, 45 people were shot. Amongst the 45, SIX were children In the age range of 11 to 15. To add to it, that was all one incident. That is awful that an event like that even As you can see, Chicago gun violence is very prominent in the communities. This violence has become a major problem mainly because it affects the teenagers and children around it every day.
It alters their minds and desensitizing them to certain things that people normally would not be numb too. Too many lives are being lost in the violent streets of Chicago. So much potential within these communities are being wasted or lost and something needs to happen so these statistics can drastically drop. This topic really hits deep with me because Chicago is my home. I could have easily became a statistic and succumb to the influence of my neighborhood. I Just hope one day that Chicago can one day move forward from the egregious nickname “Chairs”.