Free Republic

Devereaux Peters I live in Chicago, not “Chiraq.” Chicago is my city, and I love it. Calling it Chiraq is an insulting, misguided attempt to describe and to cast blame for the gun violence that plagues us. Instead of constantly trying to use my city as a scapegoat when violence occurs, we need to recognize that gun violence is a national issue and not just a local one. As a kid, I developed my professional grit playing basketball at the South Side and Austin YMCA. I watched the sun rise every morning while driving up Lake Shore Drive on my...

As is too often the case after a tragic shooting, the politics started almost immediately after a gunman injured Rep. Steve Scalise and four others while they were practicing for the beloved annual charity congressional baseball game. Some on the right immediately pointed fingers at Muslim extremists, Kathy Griffin and everyone in between without a Make America Great Again hat. Others on the left jumped in to blame Republicans for obstructing gun safety laws, a few of them gleefully neglecting the normal obligatory thought or sensitivity for the pain of the victims. But when I tuned out the more partisan...