Charlotte's Gun Problem

According to the local paper approximately 1 in 5 of Charlotte’s shooting victims were children, police statistics from the first half of the year show. 

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced shooting statistics on Friday as part of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. These statistics paint a grim picture, but are still better than last year’s, according to officials. 

In the first six months of 2023, there have been 2,359 victims of firearm-related crime in Charlotte, according to CMPD. This number is down approximately 4% from the same period last year. 

These shootings killed 27 people, including three children, according to CMPD. Another 426 juveniles were victims of a shooting and 90 juveniles were suspects in shootings. In the first half of last year, 482 juveniles were shooting victims and 118 were suspects.

And the local paper goes further:

A series of stories this year found that shootings involving kids and teens are on the rise over the past few years and have a devastating impact on families and communities. As of 2020, shootings surpassed car accidents as the the leading cause of death in children under 18 in the U.S., according to a CNN analysis of CDC data. 

Curbing these shootings is CMPD’s top priority, Chief Johnny Jennings said Friday. “There is no one who is unaffected by the public health crisis that is gun violence,” Jennings said. “Victims result from every pull of the trigger in our city. 

We need community involvement from every corner and from every walk of life, for the good of Charlotte.”

There were 342 shootings into homes, cars and other occupied property this year, according to CMPD. 

This includes the shooting into a home that seriously injured an 8-year-old girl in April. A total of 1,392 guns have been seized as evidence in these shootings and other Charlotte crimes, and 679 guns have been reported stolen, according to the data. There is no acceptable level of gun violence, CMPD officials say.

Cedar's Take: CMPD Press Release from which much of the local paper's story was produced is located here and opens in a new tab or window.

What the local paper and the CMPD press release doesn't say is that everyone of these homicide victims are African American or hispanic (2) with the expcetion of Jaxon Zane Truitt, age 3 

Jaxon Zane Truitt

Those arrested are almost always African American. In nearly every drive by shooting the shooter and the targeted victim were African American.

Despite the endless anti gun hysterics, the dramatic ortations of Joe Biden and others no one is willing to address the fact that the African American Community has become a culture of violence embracing criminality and gun play. 

Until we address the catch and release liberal policies implemented by Mecklenburg County's chief judge and increase the penalties on illegal firearm possession and begin to incarcerate violent offenders on the first violent crime conviction this problem will continue to be an accepted way of life and it will just get worse.