Chattanooga usually is properly considered to be a wonderful city of families and friends, of fine homes and communities, of schools and churches and admirable citizens. But in recent days, there have been many shocking criminal shootings here.
Some of the crimes have been by individuals against other individuals whom they knew. But some apparently have been random, creating danger to us all.
Chattanooga doesn’t want to be like the storied Dodge City of the lawless Wild West, where gunplay was common.
Yet we have had deaths and woundings, shootings into homes and cars, and threats by violent people against other thugs, as well as against law-abiding citizens.
There have been far too many reports of people illegally carrying guns – and using them with terrible results.
Our police officers are patrolling our city and efficiently responding when crimes of violence are reported. But our law enforcement officers too often have to “clean up a mess” after some tragedy occurs.
There unfortunately are always some cases of armed robbery, but many recent cases were not crimes of robbery. They simply were crimes against persons – with tragic consequences for some and danger to others.
In any large population, there always are a few vicious or just plain irresponsible people who imperil others. But the recent local individual, gang and gun crimes are alarming threats that cannot be tolerated. The most serious law enforcement and prosecution of offenders are called for in such cases.