Take action to stop plague of shootings

June 19, 2008

"They all seem to be random acts of violence," a city police spokeswoman said about the nine shootings in 4 1/2 hours last Friday and Saturday ("9 shot in city in 4 1/2 hours," June 15).

This must not be the response of the police or of the community. We must not dismiss it as bad luck when bad things happen or good things happen.

Everything has a cause. The harm done last weekend to the victims and to the communities may in part have been caused by the weather or, as the mayor suggested, by the moon.

It's more likely that the destruction was the result of access to weapons, lack of economic opportunities, ignorance of God, lack of self-discipline or even a coordinated plan to terrorize or destroy our neighborhoods.

But to dismiss this social sickness as "random" is to suggest that these victims and their communities don't count, that harm to them does not deserve full investigation to ferret out the true causes.

Shootings in poor communities must be treated as seriously as those in the wealthiest of neighborhoods.

The men at Sunday's "Call to Action" say they will do their part for the city ("City's men heed 'A Call to Action,'" June 16).

How about the rest of us?

Connie Lamka

Baltimore It was shocking to read in Sunday's Sun the headline stating that nine people were shot in 4 1/2 hours in Baltimore.

Might this not be a good time for the Police Department to again offer a cash award for all guns turned in over a short period of time in the near future?

Perhaps this might do something to prevent such shooting incidents throughout the city.

Howard Ottenstein Marcia Ottenstein

Baltimore

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