Student walkouts
Dear editor:
I was listening to the local radio station and heard about children walking out of school in protest of gun laws. And it struck me, “Who are the top 10 states with gun violence?” And the news article I saw with these numbers was published on Feb. 21, 2018, by Thomas C. Frohlich and John Harrington. Their article states “24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on gun violence by state based on the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks the numbers of gun-related deaths in each state.”
The top 10 highest states with violent crimes: Alaska, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Delaware and South Carolina. The top 10 lowest states are: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Virginia, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Utah. Personally, I was surprised that in the highest category that California, Illinois, New York or Florida didn’t make it. But I was shocked to see that Arkansas is raked No. 6 for violent crimes.
So I went looking for the top 10 worst cities in Arkansas and found an article from RoadSnacks by Chris Kolmar from Nov. 23, 2017. Here is the top 10 cities in Arkansas that was listed in his article: Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Blytheville, Forrest City, Hot Springs, West Memphis, El Dorado, Hope, Newport and Fort Smith. It may surprise folks to know the article listed Greenbrier, Lowell and Bella Vista as our top three safest cities to live in.
Kate Jordan, in an article on March 8, 2018, for 5 News FFSM/KXNW of the top 100 most dangerous places to live in the United States, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and West Memphis rated the top three according to data analysis conducted by those at NeighborhoodScout.
I just find these numbers interesting about our state, not to mention where Hot Springs is ranking according to violent crime. So are the school children from our city on a “Gun Control Law” school walkout? I didn’t hear it mentioned on the radio that our school children were protesting the crime we have.
My mother would’ve pulled another limb off the tree and whooped us until we couldn’t sit down without sobbing if she heard of such a thing. We knew what awaited us if we did wrong, at school or at home. The lack of parental discipline has caused the youth to be involved in so much crime. My personal opinion.