"Guns don't kill people, people do. But people can't do what a street-sweeper do..." -Bavu Blakes

"Violence is all-American. It's been Pop.
Not a click-clack, but a tick tock"


Much has been said about gun control, violence in the media and the right to bear arms. Like Bavu, I'm from Texas, a state with Concealed Weapon Permits, Stand-Your-Ground Laws, Capital Punishment and mad love for Vigilante Justice. Growing up here (on a healthy diet of ultra-violent comics, red-band anime, and gunclap rap) has made me cynical about the ability of the government to curb gun violence, especially by silly regulations. 
When you get dudes dressing up like the Joker and spraying movie-goers, it looks less silly. When a disturbed kid grabs the family's legally-purchased artillery and kills a bunch of elementary school kids who were unfortunate enough to be in the way when he wanted to kill his mom, it calls into question whether anyone really needs some of these heavy weapons.

It's not my position (at all) that artists should stop making violent content. I'm not really an advocate for taking away anyone's automatic or semi-auto weapons (or the right to buy them) either. I do think guns and explicit content in comics, games, etc are too easy to get, and that needs to change. But I hope we are cautious about how we pass, modify, and (especially) enforce laws. In the case of gun violence in the hood, I don't see this stopping no matter what the laws are. At least, not until more is done to address the social and economic factors that would lead a teenager to pick up a gun to kill another person in the first place. Violent music, cartoons and video games have nothing to do with that. 
 "Everyday in the hood it's an Arms Race.
Cause of if I show up with this at your mom's place..."

As a father with a four year old daughter, I cried (a lot) when I heard about the Connecticut elementary school shooting. I think this kind of thing needs to be prevented somehow. But I also believe that hood kids' lives should have the same value, and you can't solve hood violence with "tougher gun laws."
Anyways, that song is dope. It was commissioned by Lifelines to Healing, an organization committed to real violence reduction in the community. From what I can tell, the song will be on a soundtrack to a film tentatively called I AM The Comeback Story.  I'll keep you posted about that as I learn more...
have a nice day!
-samax.  

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