Chicago IG blasts city over crime strategy

[VIDEO] The video above brought to mind the senseless murder of another school teacher on 79th Street in Chatham back in 2014. I wish I could tell you there was an op/ed after her shooting back then as we hear about in this FOX News Channel report after the death of another school teacher.

Here's a link to this op/ed from Chicago's inspector general Joe Ferguson:

Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell, in characteristically heartfelt fashion, recently asked why this shooting was different. A part-time Chicago Public Schools employee died a few days later, shot while sitting on her front porch, another innocent victim. It pierced the news cycle and then faded. Mary asked why the Rogers Park murder carried a jolt that the ceaseless stream of others have not.

Because it was an unintended wound to privilege – my privilege.

A white teacher was cut down in a place and under circumstances we do not associate with such occurrences. It stood out as not normal, even in a city in which we have internalized and compartmentalized the soul-grinding carnage on our streets as utterly normal. It is, in fact, a daily, at times hourly, occurrence in other parts of Chicago.

The children in those parts of our city never get to see the world as good, and are relentlessly exposed to brutal violence and the threat of violence such as to have them grow up in modified states of traumatic stress. This is not normal, either. If Chicago’s gun-murder rate was the same as New York’s, our annual murder tally would be 150 — about one-fifth of last year’s total and less than a quarter of this year’s likely total.

Can this be turned around? Hell, yes. Can it be turned around tomorrow? Hell, no.

Will Joe Ferguson step up to the plate to face Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2019? Will the city's violence be a cornerstone of his campaign? Read the whole thing!

Also allow me to note that Emanuel has stated that he plans to run for re-election in 2019.

Armed & fabulous: In Chicago, women worried about violence join gun club.

GO FALCONS

Found this article over at Instapundit. They're talking about a local business that offers gun training classes.

Javondlynn Dunagan, came up with the idea of gun training classes geared toward women, and for the "Ladies of Steel" gun club -- after successful training, the women gather twice a month to practice their skills.

Dunagan served as a parole officer for 25 years before finishing her career in January, but had rarely held a gun when dealing with convicts.

She said she started carrying one after divorcing her police officer husband.

"I was at home by myself with my daughter, and I was used to having a firearm in a home with my ex-husband," she explained. "So, I wanted to make sure that we were safe."

But Dunagan noticed something curious when she visited gun ranges around Chicago to practice.

"I noticed that I never saw two women at the range together or a group of ladies," she recounted.

As for the answer to women who are scared of guns:

That answer prompted her to start JMD Defense & Investigations, offering gun training programs geared towards women. The "investigations" side of the business will debut next year.

Dunagan also offers classes such as the "Mommy & Me Self-Defense Class," where women can bring their daughters, ages 8-18 years, to learn hand-to-hand combat.

"That came about because my daughter was going to college four years ago and she couldn't find a self-defense class on the south side of Chicago," Dunagan said.

Her clients are from the predominantly African-American communities in Chicago's south side, in or near neighborhoods struggling with runaway gun violence.

If you'd like follow JMD (visit their website) on ig. Their offices are located in Beverly at 1447 W. 103rd Street

Our Ladies of Steel Gun Club is growing fast. We support one another, eat at our meetings, we learn together and most importantly we shoot together! We are hearing an awesome presentation about how to clean and maintain our firearms. We offer firearm cleaning classes too!

A post shared by JMD Defense & Investigations (@jmddefenseinvestigations) on Jul 18, 2017 at 4:41pm PDT

Crain's: Why so many young Chicago men pull the trigger

Go Falcons!

One attempt to get a handle on the issue of gun violence in Chicago's crime ridden neighborhoods. At one point in time this blog strived to avoid issues of crime even though I recognize it as a reality in our fair city.

Regardless the fact that a shooting and the volume of them is news not just locally but nationally also is problematic. We all hope for a solution to save our young people. No easy answers, but something has to be done about the violence.

Also for this, there will be three parts to this series. I hope to be able to share the other ones as they're published.

Tribune: Mom watches paramedics treat dying gunshot victim, then gets a call that it's her daughter

This homicide occurred near 107th & Indiana. We need to do something about our gun violence problem. An innocent person taken in a gang shooting crossfire.

Mother watches paramedics treat dying gunshot victim, then gets a call that it's her daughter https://t.co/yIxOVnVF6f pic.twitter.com/pVVCNRazVv

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) April 19, 2017