An Associated Press article decries the recent uptick in gun violence that has plagued Rhode Island:
Addressing gun violence in Rhode Island will require stricter gun laws as well as improved social programs that address the underlying socioeconomic issues, congressional, state and city leaders said at a news conference Monday held in response to several recent shootings in the state.
“Gun violence is a stain on our nation. It’s a problem across this country and it’s time to take action and break this vicious cycle of violence,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said at the event held at the Nonviolence Institute in Providence.
Gun violence has always been a problem, but things seem to be getting worse, officials said.
Nearly a dozen people have been shot in Providence alone in the last week, including eight people last Thursday in what police have called one of the worst shootings in city history. A ninth person was injured by glass. None of them died…
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said he has cosponsored 14 federal gun control measures, but noted that even though many of the proposals have bipartisan support, the NRA frequently stands in the way.
“We have to break the back of the gun lobby,” he said.
Emails and a telephone message seeking a response were left with the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition, the state NRA affiliate.
The elephant in the room is that white solutions don’t work on POC problems. Here’s what we get when we perform a Google image search for “Rhode Island shooting suspects:”
How many of those suspects are NRA members? How many of them are Second Amendment advocates? The article complains that “things seem to be getting worse.”
According to the 2010 census, Rhode Island was 81.4% white, 5.7% black and 12.4% Latino.
In 2019, the white proportion had dropped to 71%, the black proportion had increased slightly to 6% – and the Latino proportion increased to 16%.
It’s not just a matter of percentages; it’s possible that the criminal element feels more emboldened due to the “Defund the Police” rhetoric, whether it’s been done or not (I’m not sure). Then there’s the Ferguson Effect.
Let’s follow up on the mass shooting, cited in the Associated Press article above:
The state attorney general’s office identified the men as Ricardo Cosme Tejada and Jordany Britto, both 20, Reynaldo Rivera, 19, and George Rios, 18. Each faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, using a firearm while committing a crime of violence, conspiracy, and using a pistol without a license.
The news outlets put a lot of emphasis on the illegal guns, but avoided publishing any photos of the actual suspects. It’s doubtful that any of them are white. Most, if not all, of them are Hispanic – and it’s worth noting that Rhode Island voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. They voted for open borders, and they’re reaping the “benefits.” Perhaps, instead of calls for more gun control, they should be calling for border control.
Rhode Island’s political class is oblivious to all this, and this failure to acknowledge the obvious will end up costing lives, while depriving good citizens of their liberty at the same time.
