Milwaukee's Bloody 2006

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that no progress whatsoever has been made in making the city safer from gun violence.

Although murders were down in 2006, shootings shot up dramatically.

Predictably, Mayor Tom Barrett's response is, (Say it with me!), "I'm outraged."

Gun violence surged in Milwaukee last year, as hospitals treated 26% more gunshot victims and serious shootings hit a 15-year high, according to first-ever data from hospitals, paramedics and police.

Even as local leaders vow changes to slow the bloodshed, the surge is obvious in emergency rooms and among Milwaukee's corps of paramedics.

The Journal Sentinel found that in 2006:

• 808 people were treated for gunshot wounds at eight hospitals in Milwaukee County, compared with 640 in 2005. The data includes assaults, accidents and self-inflicted wounds.

• Milwaukee Fire Department paramedics treated 381 people for serious gunshot wounds - to the head, neck or chest - a 20% increase over 2005 and the highest total since 1991. They saved more seriously injured patients than they have in at least 16 years.

This is a perfect example of how numbers can be manipulated to give a completely false impression.

Barrett brags about the drop in the city's murder rate.

That's the result of some incredible medical care and luck. It isn't an indication that the city is safer at all.

Reaction from local leaders to the rise in gun violence has ranged from calls for more gun-control laws to reorganizing the office responsible for prosecuting the shooters.

The mayor: "I'm outraged," said Tom Barrett, who leads the city where the vast majority of the area's shootings occur. "There are a lot of people using guns to settle disputes."

Barrett said the numbers show that more needs to be done to prevent illegal gun sales, such as requiring background checks for person-to-person gun sales and for sales at gun shows. More effective laws need to be passed to prevent so-called straw buyers from buying guns for convicted felons, he said.

It also should be illegal for anyone under 19 to own a handgun, he said.

"This is not about 2nd Amendment rights or about guns that are used for hunting or sporting purposes," Barrett said.

As long as Barrett continues to blame the surge in gun violence on the lack of effective laws, the city is doomed.

District attorney: John Chisholm, who took office in January, said he has revamped his office in an effort to address shootings.

"It is priority number one," Chisholm said. "We have to get in there and interrupt that cycle."

Chisholm has moved more than half of his 130 prosecutors, creating a violent crime team whose top job will be to handle gun and drug crimes. He also formed five teams of prosecutors assigned to handle cases in certain areas.

Maybe Chisholm's efforts will make a difference.

I hope so.

The way I see it, if Barrett can't get crime under control in Milwaukee, residents would be crazy to reelect him.

If Chisholm is as ineffective as E. Michael McCann, then he should be dumped as well.