May 8, 2008 10:18 pm US/Central
Gun Availability May Add To City's Murder Rate
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
CBS 2 has been reporting this week on the reasons behind the deadly violence on Chicago's streets. Most of the crimes, reports CBS 2's Dana Kozlov, have at least one thing in common – guns.
Rheba Misters, 22, says when she looks at her 5-year-old neice, Alexia, she sees hope and a child too wise for her years.
"To have my 5-year-old niece say 'that disappoints me when I see shootings, and killings, when I see kids who are like my age dying,' that really brought tears to my eyes, like, are you serious?" Misters said.
Misters is trying to protect Alexia from the tumultuous life she knew for 16 years, a life of abuse, foster care and street violence. Misters says the easy availability of guns only makes that worse.
"It's like taking candy from a baby, basically, or going into a store and buying a piece of candy....they're so easy," she said.
Misters works as a peer mentor for Ulrich Children's Advantage Network, or UCAN, helping troubled teens and teen moms make positive life choices.
In 2006 there were 468 murders in Chicago, most of them gun-related. That's compared to 480 and 596 murders in the much larger cities of Los Angeles and New York respectively.
Criminologists say there's no clear reason Chicago's murder rate is so much higher, but believe there may be more guns here. The Chicago Crime Commission's Jim Wagner says numbers from the Chicago Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms backs that up.
"It does show an increase in the number of guns, simply compared to the number they're taking off the street and seizing," Wagner said.
So where are all the guns coming from? The FBI says most come from illegal straw vendors but a lot of the other ones come from burglaries.
And FBI Special Agent in Charge Bill Monroe says despite talk to the contrary, assault rifles aren't the criminals' weapon of choice.
"Most of our murders that are occurring out there are not occurring with assault rifles. It's the smaller handguns that are causing a lot of these murders," Monroe said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Celebrity Watcher: Real Or Fake?
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
