It took just eight days for this 15-year-old girl to get from the Capitol steps to the morgue
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It took just eight days for this 15-year-old girl to get from the Capitol steps to the morgue
On Jan. 21, Hadiya Pendleton performed at President Obama's inauguration. Yesterday, she was murdered. The weapon: A gun.
CHICAGO — A 15-year-old majorette who performed at some of President Barack Obama's recent inauguration festivities has been shot to death in Chicago.
Police say Hadiya Pendleton was shot in the back Tuesday in a South Side park and died at a city hospital.
Authorities say Hadiya was one of about 12 teenagers sheltering from heavy rain under a canopy when a man jumped a fence, ran toward the group and opened fire. The man fled the scene in a vehicle. No arrests have been made.
Police do not believe Hadiya was the intended target of the shooting. A teenage boy was shot in the leg. Police did not release his name.
Hadiya belonged to the King College Prep High School band, which performed at several inaugural events in Washington, D.C.
More than 1,400 Americans have been lost to gun violence since Newtown. Many of the killings took place on urban street corners like the one where Hadiya lost her life. While some of the proposals before Washinton -- banning high-capacity magazines, for example -- would reduce the number of mass killings, there needs to be a much greater focus on ending the drip-drip-drip of routine gun violence that is drowning cities like Chicago...and Philadelphia. The good news is that it can be done -- look at New York, the nation's largest city, which just went nine days (!) without a single murder. In 2013, you're going to hear a lot more on how Philly can get those kind of results.
Comments (28)
your days are numbered gun nuts.- Can you define "gun nuts"? Who are "gun nuts"? Are they everyone who owns the approximately 100 MILLION guns that are in the US today? Does that include police officers, military, secret service, FBI, CIA? And what exactly does it mean when you say, "Your days are numbered"? Does that mean that those 100 MILLION guns are going to disappear overnight? — IggleFan68
I thought the nine days without a murder for NYC was going to be due to some kind of gun laws. No, its because of the frikkin' bad weather. So how exactly is Philly going to get those kind of results? A rain dance? maybe snow making machines.— jmc- This has to be a joke, right? Chicago has the strictest gun control in the nation, and that prevented this death how? It has nothing to do with guns, and everything to do with single parent homes, lack of education, the drug subculture, and lack of respect for life (abortion and glorification of violence.) Until you fix those things, the killing will not stop, no matter what you do with guns— Mirror
- BUNCH, the girl was killed by a HUMAN BEING, not by a gun as a gun cannot shoot itself. As Mirror writes in his/her post, it is the culture of violence, (ie. violent movies, music, and games) that have brought about a de-sensitization for violence and the blatant disregard for human life.— mulford71
While I agree that this homicide-by-gun epidemic has multiple dimensions, there is no doubt in my mind that the gun laws in this country suck. I just watched the video of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly testify on Capitol Hill today. While I applaud them for taking a stand and appreciate their message something occurred to me as Mark Kelly read his statement: he went out of his way TWICE to talk about how they both believe in the Second Amendment and own firearms themselves.
Seems like anytime anyone advocates for ANY measure of gun control they have to start by soothing the nerves of the rabid gun nut crowd. They need to coddle them and reassure the gun lovers how they don't want to take away their precious toys. Remember when Bob Costas spoke out after the KC Chiefs linebacker shot and killed his girlfriend and baby's mother? He was attacked by the gun nuts and shouted down by people like mumford and DonQ. This has been going on for far too long. Enough time has elapsed since Sandy Hook that the gun nuts, once again, are becoming full-throated in their shoutdowns of those who believe the laws are too lax.
This is the very reason why none of the legislation that finally passes ever has teeth to make a difference and it's also why more prominent Americans are afraid to speak up about it. The solution: those of us in favor of gun control need to start advocating for the outright appeal of the 2nd Amendment. Maybe then gun nuts will see background checks, gun show loopholes and assault weapons bans differently. Gun worshipers have held our national discourse on this topic hostage for too long.
Repeal the Second Amendment.— wokmaster- It will be interesting to see exactly 'who' the murderer is, where he got the gun, what caused him to act this way, and then how the whole story fits together. Drugs are likely involved in some way I would guess. Good chance this will not be this person's first legal problem as well. The story does not report the race of the assailant, but if he was white, this would be an even bigger story I'm afraid, so I'll assume he was not white. Finally, with all the facts plainly assembled it might be possible for a conclusion as to exactly what kind of 'new' law could be enacted that would have prevented this tragedy and that might even lead to a discussion on how a new law might sit against the 2nd Amendment. Of course, this requires the press to act as the 'fourth estate' and not just to use a very sad circumstance and a few facts to create spin to try to sway public opinion to it's latest political ideal.— elbrewador
- All the gun nuts can thank Scalia and his activist court for putting limits on gun ownership via the DC v Heller case.
Dopes, no change!— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine - Just wave your magic wand Will and make it all go away. It's sad you're playing politics with people's deaths.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- Repealing the 2nd Amendment would be okay, but we must keep the option to own hand grenades and rocket launchers.— orange rhino
- This country can create all the gun laws it wants to, but until we get to the root cause of the violence, tragic events like this will still happen. Chicago has some very strict gun laws, but have they addressed the root cause? Look at Brazil for another example.— FletcherT
- Has anyone noticed the commonality of all the violent cities in America?— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver
- Will doesn't mention that several people who she was with were gang members— Tom813
- You really think the shooter will obey any new gun laws? On his way to this shooting he's gonna say to himself, "Oh no, this particular gun has too many bullets in the clip according to the new laws. I better go get myself a revolver so as to comply."— Niko
- I have simpathy for this girls family, but why is her death any more newsworth than the thousands of other gun deaths, let alone the alarming amount in this city? Sensationalistic journalism here. Perhaps the best way to keep gun violence, and the need for gun control in everyones mind, is a running ticker, that shows gun deaths, up in Times Square and other public places.
And by the way, I have yet to see Will's outrage over Obama canceling his plan to shut down Guantanamo. Didn't he excuse Bush and everyone in his administration involved with that place war criminals? Meanwhile our Nobel Peace Prize winning president continues Bush's program down there AND expands on the flying death robots snuffing out civilians. Can we get a "tear down this myth" about Obama? Nope, double standards all around.— Greg S
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