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The sickening killing of 57-year-old Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera, who had the audacity to tag a tagger after he defaced a wall, and then was shot to death by his accomplices, has brought forth a new round of condemnation against these vandals. Larry Mantle, of KPCC, even had a show yesterday devoted to the topic, which brought in many calls from people angry about property destruction.
There seems to be a lot of amateur analysis (including this piece) about grafitti, replete with the usual lamenting of gangs, bad schools, bad parenting, bad diet, etc. But when people are randomly killed in L.A., almost anything could have provoked it. Just last week, a man crossing White Oak Avenue in Reseda was deliberately run down and murdered after he yelled at a speeding driver. Parking lot arguments, switching lanes on the freeway, flirting with the wrong woman, coming out of the wrong nightclub, attending a party in East L.A., fixing your flat tire in the Sepulveda Pass at 1 am….these are some killings that come to mind.
We have lots more murder in the US because we have lots more guns. It’s as simple as that. We can talk about making kids read the Bible, but the most murderous states and neighborhoods are often the most churchgoing. We have one political party which calls itself “right to life” based on its strict adherence to no gun control whatsoever and its unflagging support for an unjustified war.
Yes, I hate tagging and wish it would stop. I propose that we create a law that fines every convicted tagger $10,000 and suspends their driver’s licenses for life.
After we enact that law do you think we will see any reduction in the violence? Nope.
Here in Van Nuys 
Children and Gun Violence
In a single year, 3,012 children and teens were killed by gunfire in the United States, according to the latest national data released in 2002. That is one child every three hours; eight children every day; and more than 50 children every week. And every year, at least 4 to 5 times as many kids and teens suffer from non-fatal firearm injuries. (Children’s Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)
America and Gun Violence
American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)
Guns in the Wrong Hands
Faulty records enable terrorists, illegal aliens and criminals to purchase guns. Over a two and a half-year period, at least 9,976 convicted felons and other illegal buyers in 46 states obtained guns because of inadequate records. (Broken Records, Americans for Gun Safety Foundation)
School Safety
Between 1994 and 1999, there were 220 school associated violent events resulting in 253 deaths – – 74.5% of these involved firearms. Handguns caused almost 60% of these deaths. (Journal of American Medical Association, December 2001)
In 1998-99 academic year, 3,523 students were expelled for bringing a firearm to school. This is a decrease from the 5,724 students expelled in 1996-97 for bringing a firearm to school. (U.S. Department of Education, October 2000)
Nearly 8% of adolescents in urban junior and senior high schools miss at least one day of school each month because they are afraid to attend. (National Mental Health & Education Center for Children & Families, National Association of School Psychologists 1998)
The National School Boards Association estimates that more than 135,000 guns are brought into U.S. schools each day. (NSBA, 1993)
Children and Gun Violence
America is losing too many children to gun violence. Between 1979 and 2001, gunfire killed 90,000 children and teens in America. (Children’s Defense Fund and National Center for Health Statistics)
In one year, more children and teens died from gunfire than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. (Children’s Defense Fund)
The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
America and Gun Violence
Every day, more than 80 Americans die from gun violence. (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence)
The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control)
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Yet the cities with the tightest gun control have the most gun deathes.
Imagine you are a worthless scum that resorts to violence for your income, would you rather attack a armed victim or unarmed victim?
The facts prove guns also save lives.
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The 70% tax rate seems a bit extreme, but the other aspects, possibly. It’s really a great country, however they’re doing it!
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Would you also support Switzerland’s program of universal health care, 70% tax rate, neutrality in foreign wars, and generous subsidies for public transportation including bicycles, as well as strict zoning to protect agriculture from development and keep cities within their borders so sprawl does not destroy the countryside? Guns are kept in Swiss homes, because each ciitizen is literally asked to defend their country from attack. Is that true of the gun owners in say, Mississippi?
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I kinda disagree, Andrew, that guns are the reason our murder rate is so high. Switzerland, for example, is chock-full of guns and the Swiss are avid marksmen/women. But their gun violence rate is microscopic compared to ours.
I think think the pervasiveness of violence in the country, particularly in urban areas, is more a matter of culture. Take away the guns, and we’ll still have plenty of people getting stabbed or beaten or run over by cars. It’s mainly how the society lives, not the tools it has available for violence.
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25 years, no exceptions. watch tagging subside. the law is a joke to these hoodlums. show them otherwise.
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Maria Hicks was one of my best friends in high school (El Rancho High)…I was devasated when I heard how she died. I attended her beautiful services and was able to tell her brother (Ruben) that tagging MUST be a felony. We need to SCARE THEM STRAIGHT…my cousin Fernie (a sheriff deputy himself) suggested we propose KITA’S LAW…that was Maria Hick’s nickname…we passed this on to her brother and hope this is only the beginning of justice served.
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We have lots more murder in the US because we have lots more guns.
Well we have more gun murder I’ll grant you that. As to murder of all types it looks like everyplace else adjusted for the other known factors for murder. Some of those are strange at first but demographers have spent a very long time and stand by them. Speaking English, geographic latitude, stuff like that.
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