This Is Too Easy

As much as I wish this wasn't the case, this blog continues to write itself.

From the Boston Globe:

Shootings in Hub rise dramatically

The number of shootings in Boston has increased significantly over the last three years, jumping by 77 percent through last week, compared to the same period in 2002, and by 28 percent over the same period a year ago.

What say you, Mayor Menino?

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday he believes that the city can do a better job of reducing gun violence in neighborhoods, which has emerged as a major issue in Tuesday's city election.

"Guns don't belong on the streets of our city or any city," he said. "Boston is one of the safest cities in the country, but we can make it safer."

OK, everyone. Repeat after me.

It's not the guns, asshole, it's the criminals!

Jorge Martinez -- executive director of Project RIGHT, a Grove Hall community safety group -- said that he believes that the rise in shootings in Roxbury, from 54 last year to 81 this year, is the result not only of an increase in guns but also a trend among younger teenagers who are arming themselves for protection.

"It pisses me off scares the bejesus out of me that we law-abiding folks aren't allowed to do the same.," Martinez said

[snip]

In the Back Bay-South End police district, where the number of shootings more than doubled, from 11 in 2002 to 24 this year, Pamela Esposito said she and her husband are close to being driven out of the city because of crime.

But, Menino says all these people are leaving the city because of the lack of affordable housing. He wouldn't be blowing smoke out his ass now, would he?

Esposito said she called police on Monday night after hearing a fusillade of about eight gunshots from her apartment on St. Botolph Street, where she has lived for four years. She said she and her neighbors are alarmed by the lack of officers visible in the neighborhood and feel compelled to protect themselves.

Welcome to the party, Pam.

"We're talking about doing things even more drastic at this point, like...

Taking a firearms safety course?

So you can apply for a gun permit?

To carry a firearm for protection?

Or to keep a shotgun in the bedroom closet?

...like getting our own security," said Esposito, a 31-year-old scientist.

Oh.

Sorry, Pamela. The Commonwealth would love to help you with that, but after putting the illegal aliens through college, it's not likely the funding will be there. Maybe Menino will let you borrow his heavily-armed security detail. After all, you and your husband are the ones paying for it.

What do you say, Tom?

[crickets, please]

Yeah...thought so.

Be sure to look at the Globe's graphic showing the shooting stats for the last few years. Keep in mind, that tally doesn't include "misses" or criminal use of a firearm with no shots fired.

And from the Boston Herald:

Seven suspects, four guns nabbed in firearm frenzy

Boston cops had several encounters with armed gunmen in a 24-hour period this week that led to seven arrests and the seizure of four guns, officials said.

Four of the armed suspects were teenagers under the age of 18, BPD officials said. Of the 58 homicide victims this year, 15 were teens.

The busts further bolster the skyrocketing number of weapons BPD cops have taken off the streets this year despite Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, having the "most effective gun control laws in the nation" a department-wide manpower shortage.

"Faced with the staffing shortages, the officers on the street continue to meet the challenge and are taking more guns off the streets than in past years when there were fewer gun laws on the books," said BPD spokesman officer Michael McCarthy. "It'’s a big step towards laying to rest the notion that gun control laws do anything to disarm the criminal element public safety and improving the quality of life in the neighborhoods."

And the failed social experiment of gun control in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts goes on and on...

...and on...

...and on.