One of the things I admire most about liberals is their ability to make a problem, blame that problem on someone else, then come up with a solution to that problem – all the while remaining the “morally superior” bunch, the bunch who “cares.” Here is an example:

Liberals are big “freedom of expression” people. Anything that smacks of censorship generates huge public outcry. If an art exhibit, music group, television show or movie offends people to the point that they want it discontinued, liberals are the first to support that “artist’s” freedom of expression.

The rap bands “N.W.A.” and “2 Live Crew” came on the music scene in the mid-80’s, extolling the virtues of violence and degrading sex, telling their fans that “faggots” should be shot down and that “niggaz” who tried to better themselves with education and careers were sell-outs. When conservative and religious groups protested the distribution of this type of “music” to America’s youth, liberals screamed “censorship!” so loud that not only were gangsta rappers encouraged to express themselves freely, but they became part of our mainstream culture as well.

Fast forward to today, where urban street crime is prevalent, violence against women is common, and the beating and killing of gay men makes front-page headlines. The liberals beat their breast about these issues, and cry that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE! Yet the perpetrators of these crimes are only doing what the musicians and their champions encouraged them to do. The Tupac Shakur’s of the world and, by proxy, their defenders made the world of violence so glamorous that America’s youth took up the gauntlet – and the gun.

It’s no coincidence that gun violence and gangsta rap have risen together in popularity. According to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, about half of the cities with gang problems give the mid-80’s as the time period that gangs emerged. They also report that firearm mortality rates among 15- to 19-year-old urban youth rose markedly in the late 1980s. The study also states that, since 1992, there have been 190 shooting deaths in our Nation’s schools. While alarming, this figure represents only 1% of all gun-related homicides during that period.

Uniform Crime Reports overwhelmingly indicate that perpetrators and victims of gun violence are much more likely to be:

• African American
• Male
• Living in an urban area
• Economically disadvantaged
• Between the ages of 15 and 19

By coincidence, this also happens to be the target audience of gangsta rappers – the same gangsta rappers that are championed by the liberals.

But now these same liberals are marching and protesting, lobbying Congress and making Public Service Announcements because they think guns should be banned. “Too much violence,” they cry, “We must protect our youth!” But where were they when the violent messengers were putting these ideas in youthful American minds? They were protecting said messengers’ right to freedom of expression. And we can clearly see where it has led.