Council looks at Philly gun violence from unique perspective

A group of journalists on the front lines of the war against gun violence made a presentation to several members of City Council in Philadelphia.

The group formed a website, GunCrisis.org, to document the violence in Philadelphia as a way of showing more needs to be done to stop the murders and other gun-related crimes. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim MacMillan, who has covered the war in Iraq, says his research shows some parallels.

He says there are ways to help curtail the urban violence.

“I’m most excited about the public-health model,” he said. “When you look at the success public-health approaches have had with cigarette smoking, drunken driving, safe sex and other behavioral changes, I think this is the best bet to change the culture of violence in cities like Philadelphia.”

Councilman Curtis Jones says he’s willing to consider any solution to cut the murder rate.

“It is my sincere belief that it will take a whole village to address the crisis with guns in our community,” Jones said. “It’s not just city council’s problem, it’s not just the mayor’s problem, but what we are finding is that we are getting some help from some non-traditional sources.”

More than 200 have been killed in Philadelphia this year. More than 300 were slain in 2011.