@SeaGreenEyez

Thanks. interesting looking database. Good on the volunteer work.

I lived in Chicago for awhile, a long time ago, and when I first got there I was so offended by the violence there that I wrote a letter to the editor of at least one of the major media outlets. I don't remember if it was just TV, but I seem to remember watching a newscast one night and hearing some of my comments being read back by the commentator.

I hate to say it, but one of the things that came across to me was that it seemed to me a lot of this was in the black community and a lot of top-level political decisions were made in the predominantly white community, and I was not confident that decision makers were motivated to take action as the murder issue did not impact their community directly. I do think there was some racism in this.

Another thing that came across is that for each murder there is the victim, and then there is the perpetrator who will, for the rest of their lives, have to live with it, and probably ultimately end up in prison or dead. In the face of these and other grotesque aspects of that whole situation, at the time it seemed best to speak up, and it still does, and I admire your own efforts on that point.

The reason I mention the monopoly on violence philosophic principle, although it may come across as a non-sequiteur conversation-killer, is that I've come to the view that this is the principle that is being ignored by the the right-wing opponents of gun control.