Comparing Gun Violence in Detroit to Orlando and Other Mass Shootings
MSU sociology professor says parents are enabling violence.
Every year Detroit ranks high nationally for its murder rate. But 2016 has brought news of a specific type of heinous violence; multiple children, many of them younger than six years old, killed by gunfire.
A six-month-old baby shot in her stroller.
A five-year-old girl who found a pistol under grandma’s pillow.
A two-year-old girl shot in her car seat after an argument over spilled Kool-Aid.
How do we make sense of the senseless?
Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson speaks with Carl Taylor, professor of Sociology at Michigan State University, about gun violence in Detroit.
“It’s a social breakdown that we have been seeing,” says Taylor. “Half a century ago…adults made certain that children were out of harm’s way at all costs…[now] if there happens to be a child in harm’s way, [people think] so what, as long as it’s not my child.”
Parenting is part of the problem, Taylor says.
“I’m seeing a lot of poor parenting, not being aware of what your child is doing.”
Click the audio link above to hear the full conversation.
