The senseless killings must stop

Over the last five years, you can’t turn on the news without hearing about someone being killed. Not that they died of some health condition, but that they died at the hands of another and in most cases it was by a gun shot. Is it the people, the situation or the availability of guns?

From most media sources, it would seem that Black people are committing most of the killings. But many experts said that most people -- whether black or white -- are murdered by people in their own racial group, and that has held true for decades. Information from the FBI’s Crime in the United States reports that, 84 percent of white victims were killed by whites and 93 percent of black victims were killed by blacks.

The problem is not who is doing the killing, it is why are

the killings happening.

Over the last few years, data proved that 1) Innocent people are being killed because of greed, bad decision making and ineffective conflict resolution.

2) Innocent kids are being killed as a result of adults making bad decisions.

3) Family members are being killed because of disputes over money.

4) Students shooting kids at schools.

5) Police shooting unarmed black people.

Those aren’t the only situations, but those are the most common ones reported.

The statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ has been shouted during many protest over the last few years. This was in an attempt to bring attention to the killing of Black men by white police officers. Several young unarmed black men have been and are continuing to be shot and killed by police. However, that number is nowhere close to the number of unarmed people being killed by black people.

As we near the summer season, these types of killings must stop. The common thread in all of these situations is the use and availability of guns. The Violence Policy Committee found that over the last five years, for every one justifiable homicide in the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 44 criminal homicides.

Parents, please talk to your kids and your adult children. When they take someone’s life, they also ruin their own life and yours.

Gina C. Steward

CEO/Publisher