Laura Washington: People of the Gun don’t care — but you do

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Mass killings have become “routine.” Americans have become “numb” to the carnage, Obama anguished.It is also routine, Mr. President, in your own hometown. Chicago is beset by the terrorism of gun violence. The violence so routine, we call our city “Chiraq.”Monday night, a family returning from an outing was shot at in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. A 24-year old pregnant woman and her mother, 47, were killed. An 11-month old boy was wounded. A baby.From Monday to Tuesday, six people were killed and eight people were wounded, including another boy, 2.Through the end of September in 2015, at least 55 people were shot to death. Another 288 were wounded, shows data compiled by DNAinfo.

In Chicago, the slaughter is endemic, committed by home-grown terrorists, mostly gang members and criminals who no have value for human life, but unlimited access to guns.

In his remarks, Obama fingered them, The People of the Gun, clearly alluding to the powerful National Rifle Association. The People of the Gun don’t care.

This time, Obama did not offer up new ideas about gun control legislation. Past efforts have gone nowhere.

Instead, he appealed to the voters, the “communities across the country forced to relieve their own anguish, and parents across the country who are scared because they know it might have been their families or their children.”

He urged: “If you think this is a problem, then you should expect your elected officials to reflect your views.”

“And each time this happens I’m going to bring this up. Each time this happens I am going to say that we can actually do something about it, but we’re going to have to change our laws. And this is not something I can do by myself. I’ve got to have a Congress and I’ve got to have state legislatures and governors who are willing to work with me on this.”

In Chicago, officials like Police Supt. Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel seem to share Obama’s anguish, but seem out of solutions. The Chicago City Council seems more fixated on fighting property tax hikes than in vanquishing the gun.

Imagine, if each time there were a shooting in Chicago, we, the voters, would “bring this up.”

Imagine, if with every one of the hundreds of shootings, that every single Chicagoan took action. Took a moment, and hour or a day to call the alderman, state legislator, mayor.

Every time, every day, march, demand, lobby, insist that our “leaders” stand down to the People of the Gun. That they turn back the NRA’s blood money. That they take legislative action. That, with our support, they find solutions.

Imagine the din. The phones, email and social media would be buzzing 24/7. They would not get anything else done. Except the most important thing.

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