Dick Durbin: “14 dead, 82 wounded--that grim statistic was reported this weekend. It was not from Baghdad. It was not from Damascus.…”

“14 dead, 82 wounded--that grim statistic was reported this weekend. It was not from Baghdad. It was not from Damascus. It was not from Gaza. No, it was not from the Middle East. It was from the Midwest. It was from the city of Chicago--14 dead, 82 wounded over the Fourth of July weekend. This morning the Chicago Tribune headline read: ``2 dead, 9 hurt in shootings on the South, West sides''--last night. A 17-year-old boy who would have started college orientation Thursday was shot to death Tuesday night in the Brainerd neighborhood, one of at least 11 people shot across the city since Tuesday afternoon. A boy was struck in the chest and back and died on the scene. Four minutes later, on the West Side, a 23-year-old man was fatally shot as he rode his bicycle in a Humboldt Park neighborhood. The story goes on to recount each and every incident. These numbers cloak the grief that families are now going through as someone they love is either gone or seriously injured. When you listen to their voices, you understand what life is like in the mean streets on the South Side and West Side of Chicago. Greg Baron, a 20-year-old from Chicago's South Side, has already been a victim of gun violence once. He spoke to the Chicago Tribune yesterday and said: ``I have to watch my back every day because I do not want to get killed or shot again.'' Marsha Lee, a Chicago mother, has already lost one son to gun violence.…”