Doing Violence to the Facts

Last week on the local Chicago news, the anchors were clucking over an incident during which a high-school-aged young man boarded a bus and started shooting, killing one boy who shielded a classmate from the bullets. Then came the predictable cries for gun control. Apparently the broadcasters forgot that Chicago already has one of the strictest gun-control regimens in the country. And besides, minors aren't supposed to have firearms anyway, so what's one more law going to do?

Then the station cut to the commercials. One of them was for a new movie, Mr. Brooks, about a murderous stalker. Hello? Is anybody in there, McFly? If we want to start to make a real difference against violence, might I suggest we begin with cleaning up the media, which glorify violence for fun and profit?