Raw numbers paint different picture of gun violence

David Axelrod, President's Obama's former senior adviser and patriarch of the Chicago connection with the White House, this week addressed the sad crime wave that engulfs the Windy City.

And Axelrod said the words that Obama will not.

Axelrod said there were upward of 150,000 active gang members in Chicago, and those gangs are responsible for the 500-plus murders in the city last year.

A young girl who took part in the inauguration was a gang murder victim last week as an innocent bystander at the wrong place and time.

Oddly -- despite crime statistics that show nearly half of the murders committed each year are inner-city and often gang related -- the Obama administration balks at tackling this subject.

Granted, Axelrod tried his best to follow the administration's narrative by blaming the violence on easy access to guns from surrounding communities. But his argument was weak at best.

Additional background checks may soothe our minds, but they will not remove one single gun from the hands of an urban gangbanger.

Weapons of choice in the overwhelming percentage of Chicago murders were not assault weapons. They were easily and legally accessible handguns.

The entire gun control discussion fails to address the root cause of the violence in this country.

By all means, don't look for this administration to tackle the subject they so want to avoid.

If you wanted to honestly address the issue of gun violence in this country would you not look at raw numbers and see where and how those acts of violence occurred?

Here's a hint:

Despite the overwhelming pain and sadness, most of these murders are not committed in an elementary school by a deranged gunman.

And most don't take place in a movie theater with another deranged gunman.

And most don't occur in a public gathering with a congressman by yet another deranged gunman.

So why is the focus on these tragedies and not at the source of most gun violence?

You'll have to ask the president that question.

But don't hold your breath for a reply.

His answer would be all-too-predictable.

We need more tax money to go to the inner city programs that foster understanding and compassion for those less fortunate.

All-too-predictable.