COLUMN: Toward a necessary cease-fire

From Marisa Katz's, "Ineluctable Modality of the Visible," Fall '98 From Marisa Katz's, "Ineluctable Modality of the Visible," Fall '98We are fortunate, to say the least, that bullets flying through a campus building still constitute an uncommon occurrence. That the incident prompted outrage among administrators, faculty and students is a testament to its abnormality. But as the March 1 shooting outside the Palestra demonstrated, although gun shots on Penn's campus may be rare, violence is a subject Philadelphia public school kids are all-too-familiar with. Two years ago, I spent some time at West Philadelphia High School at 47th and Walnut streets after the non-fatal shooting of a 16-year-old student. Kids I met there spoke about random security checks, having to carry identification cards at all times and being afraid to get involved in extracurricular activities because of the risks involved with travelling home apart from the pack. Then-College senior Erica Johnson framed the difference well between the level of violence at the University and that at her alma mater, West Philly High. "To hear some Penn students talk, it sounds like we're living in a war zone," she said. "I remember a time at West when a gun fell out of a guy's bag during class and people hardly noticed." It may be hard to believe how local high school students could become so desensitized to guns and violence. But a look at the statistics -- horrible and shocking to the outsider -- reveals how pervasive violence is in their lives. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, homicide claims 400 victims in Philadelphia each year. Last year, eight out of 10 died by gunshot. Philadelphia leads major American cities in the rate at which its murderers kill by gun. And nearly four out of 10 murder victims last year were ages between the ages of 15 and 24. The toll on Philadelphia youth is enormous. The emotional impact on the families and friends of victims is immeasurable. The cost for taxpayers and city hospitals is concrete: The average gunshot case at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania cost $19,000. Citywide, $30 million a year goes to treat gunshot victims who are uninsured or covered through welfare. That's 80 percent of the city's yearly total of 1,100 gunshot cases. As if the number of lives at stake weren't enough, the amount of money that goes to clean up the bloody aftermath of shootings -- often money that comes too late -- should provide sufficient incentive for changes in the system. But while the problem is clear, the solutions are harder to determine. Given the level of magnitude violence has reached in this city, the most effective countermeasures should approach the problem from several directions. Namely, Pennsylvania residents should push for stricter state laws on assault weapons, courts should come down harder on those convicted in gun charge cases and more programs should focus on educating students about alternatives to violence. The bottom line is that gun control legislation in Pennsylvania is too lax. There are too many guns out there. And it's too easy for them to fall into the hands of at-risk youth. Only in Philadelphia are carry permits necessary for wielding a gun in public, whether concealed or not. In the rest of the state's counties, weapons may be carried openly without a license. Firearms are not registered. And anyone who meets a few basic requirements can get a permit to carry a concealed gun. The inadequacies of the state's current gun control laws are evident in newspaper headlines and hospital emergency rooms every day. In 1996, Philadelphia City Council tried to address the crisis with an ordinance to keep high powered assault weapons off city streets. But the state Supreme Court overruled the legislation, saying municipalities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, that operate under home rule charters, could not ban assault weapon ownership locally because it goes against a state amendment prohibiting any local government from enacting regulations on the "lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms" and ammunition. It is true that a patchwork of gun control laws within a state does not make sense. In fact, in light of the portability of firearms, only a nationally uniform ban on assault weapons will be effective in limiting the number of guns on the streets. But until we reach that goal, it doesn't help that Pennsylvania's gun laws are far more lenient than laws in neighboring states. The enforcement of gun laws must also be stepped up. Currently, Philadelphia courts are crammed with firearms cases, but they are often unwilling or unable to jail people found with guns. The mandatory five-year prison sentence for people convicted of crimes perpetrated with a gun rarely translates to a full five years. And according to the latest Common Pleas Court figures, 63 percent of those convicted of having an illegal gun -- but not firing it -- received probation in 1996. Both the Palestra shooting victim Tupac Davis, 22, and his alleged killer Kyle McLemore, 21, walked free on gun charges only months before the shooting. The reason so many people are getting off: Philadelphia County prisons are crowded too close to capacity. But rather than giving criminals a slap on the wrist and essentially free reign for a repeat performance, the courts should send convicted criminals to neighboring counties where prisons are less crowded. Along with reactive measures, there should be more programs that expose area students to alternatives to violence. The difficulties in increasing educational programming lie with the current state of the Philadelphia School District. State Superintendent David Hornbeck has threatened to close schools unless the state government can help plug a budget gap of about $85 million for the next fiscal year. But the University offers several programs where students and faculty can volunteer their time with local schools. We are the obvious success stories. As role models, we can remind area students that violence is not a necessary path, that they don't have to end up in a white plastic body bag.