Reality Up Against a Wall

So, the Reverend Bruce Wall of Dorchester - who recently spent a week in a Lyndhurst Street apartment with other community leaders in a effort to draw attention to the gun crimes plaguing that neighborhood - is echoing Mayor Menino's call from last week for some kind of summit meeting to address gun violence in Boston.

What's the good reverend's take on this, you ask?

"We have to stop this new wave of suicidal and destructive behavior that is wiping out a generation," the Rev. Bruce Wall said yesterday in a speech at the Greater Framingham Community Church in Framingham.

Wait a minute. This might sound promising. He seems to recognize that the problem here is illegal, violent behavior by criminals, and that, in fact, it's not the mere presence of handguns in the city that's magically turning law-abiding youth into murderous thugs.

Might we actually be seeing a change in the way this problem is to be addressed in the future? Shifting from 'Guns Cause Crime' to 'Criminals Cause Crime'?

Don't hold your breath.

Wall said he planned to ask Mayor Thomas M. Menino to pay for the conference, which is being called "Why Are Illegal Guns Being Sent to Boston's Black Community?" The conference would probably cost about $5,000 for food, photocopies, and the printing of a document detailing the proposed solutions, Wall said.

Ummm...supply/demand, maybe?

UPDATE: Reverend Wall is on WRKO with Scott Allen Miler this morning. Apparently, Mayor Menino was right. Gun crime in the black community of Boston is New Hampshire's fault. These poor criminals children can't be held accountable for their actions. They're merely the innocent victims of ruthless Granite State oppression.

Seriously, people like him will blame the price of drywall screws in Sweden for the increased gun violence in Boston'd black neighborhoods before they turn their attention to the black community itself to address any of the real underlying issues (drugs, poor parenting, hip-hop thug culture, etc.).

And the PVS rolls on.