Pop.
Every year a list of the most deadly cities in the world is released by a collective of peace and justice groups throughout the world. Almost all of them are in Latin America. Fifteen of them are in Brazil, nine are in Mexico, and five are in the United States. Five. They are Detroit, New Orleans, Baltimore, Oakland, and St. Louis. We should think about these statistics every time we hear someone talk about the American Dream, the high standard of living in the US, and our role as a world leader and a purveyor of peace and democracy. We should also think about this when we talk about gun control, a debate that is becoming more and more myopic from either side. We all know that the issues of gun violence and gun control in the US is mired in politics, civil liberties, ways of life, and our abysmal understanding and treatment of mental illness. But it does little to dissuade us from talking about it in meaningless sound bites. Perhaps a look at the numbers will help clarify things. Perhaps ranking so high and in such poor company will persuade us to take a different approach to the subject. Either way, something has to shift. And it is beginning to. The City of Los Angeles and many other communities are using gun buy-back and trade-in programs to conduct outreach and provide much needed social services such as grocery exchanges, cash programs, or bike exchanges. Find something better to do with your gun today.
For Information about the Guns for Groceries Program in Los Angeles:
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