Comparing Gun Violence in Detroit to Orlando and Other Mass Shootings
MSU sociology professor says parents are enabling violence.
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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.