Trayvon Martin was lucky. At least he caught national attention. At least people were outraged at his killing. But he is not the only shooting victim in this country. Far from it. Consider, for example, a couple of people in Kansas shot for walking down the sidewalk. The man was shot multiple times for that offense. The woman was shot only once. In the head. She died. So did her baby. She was 8 months pregnant. (UPDATE: Her name was Alexandria Duran. Her name deserves to be known. She was 22 years old.)
According this interview with the brother of the victim who witnessed the attack,
[The brother of the victim] says he and the two victims were walking in front of a house, where a man was yelling racial slurs. He says the man demanded that they get off his property, but he says they were on the sidewalk. That’s when a fight started between his brother and the man.
Then the man went inside and got his gun. After that the brother was shot trying to shield the pregnant woman. He is in the hospital. He will probably be paralyzed. The woman and her baby are dead. Her three other children are now motherless. Read the full story here.
Do guns make us safer?
Even with a gun registry or background checks will they be able to check for racists and bigots? Will they be able to screen for hot tempers? Will they be able to screen for assholes?
The national news can’t be outraged at every shooting racial or otherwise. There isn’t enough time in the 24 hour news cycle. But we should be outraged.
DNAInfo Chicago posts the stories of every murder victim in Chicago. Most are shooting victims and the list is way too long.
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Kim Z. Dale 