Despite Recent Killings, Violence down In Cincinnati

By Jeff Riley

Not since former Mayor Marion Barry of the District of Columbia declared ,"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country," has someone had the temerity to voice such a headline.

Now Cincinnati can join the ranks of the ridiculed, but at least our dapper Mayor Mark Mallory, wasn't stupid enough to utter the following:

"Despite Recent Killings, Violence down In Cincinnati"

Who could have been so addled to publish this headline? I'll give you a hint. What local TV station has recently been lambasted for airing a anti-gun piece so biased that it made the front-page of the Brady Center for Gun Violence website? If you guessed Channel 5 WLWT Cincinnati, give that man a kewpie doll!!!

There is some verifiable good news in this piece despite its comedic headline.

"Nearly 90 people were murdered in Cincinnati last year, and hospitals treated hundreds for bullet wound injuries. University Hospital said it treated more than 300 cases. But this year, that number is just 184 treated, and the homicide rate has dropped by more than 20 percent."

And to what do the good people of Cincinnati attribute our rise in good fortune? "I want everyone here in Cincinnati to know there's hope. "Things are changing." the Rev. Peterson Mingo said.

It's the message Mingo said everyone should be hearing in Cincinnati's decreasing homicide rate this year.

Mingo said he's seen the toll guns can take first hand. He said he carries his four brothers' death certificates. He said all of them were shot to death.

It's his goal to help with several community programs aimed to encourage peace and push men and women off the street and into education and away from violence.

"If you've got someone who would otherwise be out on the street, but now he's working. Now he's got a high self-esteem, and he doesn't think it's such a dog-eat-dog world. You've got somebody who's ready to make a change," Mingo said."

So we are to believe that by simply giving someone a job, or getting the homeless off the streets, this reduces their homicidal impulses? I was surprised he didn't manage to throw in the "summer program for youths" into the mix. As it was, I wasn't aware that a large number of homeless people were committing murders in the Nation.

At least they waited until paragraph 6 to start blaming guns. Despite the headlines that violence is down, they specifically call out violence committed with guns. No mention as to whether violence committed without a gun is trending up or down. Notice that in the good Rev's eyes it is always external forces that cause someone to commit violence. Homelessness, lack of jobs, lack of self-esteem, etc are all reasons that people have to commit violence. Never is the character of those persons committing crimes addressed. H.L. Mecken once said: "To claim that poverty causes crime is a slander on the poor." The Reverend's statements are such that even our Coroner O'Dell Owens doesn't believe them. He was quoted as saying "90 percent of all homicides (in Cincinnati) are drug related." Even the doctor recognizes that criminals are responsible for crime, not inanimate objects or poverty.

I think that a more vigorous police presence has made more of an impact, a fact that the story finally mentions in its closing paragraphs. "Cops and deputies have teamed up in Over-The-Rhine, and a special unit, Vortex, has made a charge to clean up Cincinnati streets.

"Vortex has taken at least 200 guns off the street, probably taken well over 300 pounds of marijuana, pounds of cocaine, hundreds of thousands of dollars -- we've seized vehicles (and) personal property," Cincinnati police Lt. Bruce Hoffbauer said.

While it's hard to attribute the dip in homicides to any one organization or action, those most involved with fighting violence and crime said they plan on watching that number continue to fall.

"We're going to continue this intense focus on street crime, bring down the homicide rate more in 2008 and get as many drugs, guns and criminals off the street as we can," Hoffbauer said."

Note the mention of getting guns off the streets, maybe they were homeless guns and prone to homicidal impulses due to low self-esteem? Nowhere is it mentioned that perhaps the fact that Hamilton and Clermont County lead the state in citizens who have take the steps necessary to ensure their own protection: obtaining a concealed handgun license. Couple this with the Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deter's attitude supporting recent cases involving citizens use of firearms for lawful self-defense, I think that criminals in Cincinnati are finally learning that the citizens are fed up with crime and are protecting themselves and pushing the police to be more proactive.

Jeff Riley is Buckeye Firearms Association Southwest Ohio volunteer.