The Parents of New Town

Timothy Egan has a column in the NY Times here titled The Power of Loss.  He talks about the bravery of the New Town parents who lost children in that holocaust.  And he, rightfully, excoriates people who complain that the lawmakers are exploiting this tragedy. 

Until a few years ago, I taught in a school outside of Boston that was part of the METCO program—a program where inner-city children are bused to the suburbs.  In any given year, I usually had around twenty of these youngsters scattered across my high school classes.

In the 1990’s, Boston went through a time of terrible gun violence.  And at one point I realized that every single one of my METCO students had had a family member, a relative, or a close friend,  killled by gunshot.  My students told of not being allowed to leave their apartments when they got home.  They lived under seige.

I understand that while the number of deaths by gun violence has decreased, the number of entries into emergency rooms with gun wounds has steadily increased.  The lower death rate is due to better trauma care, not less gun violence.

How can we let this go on?