Political cartoon: Depressing Philly gun stat to ring in the New Year

Philadelphia has a new police commissioner named Danielle Outlaw. I wonder if she knows that a child is shot in Philly every 3.7 days.

That depressing stat comes from my colleague Jonathan Lai, who wrote earlier this month about the epidemic of kids being shot in the city. Among the things Lai uncovered was the fact that kids made up a larger share of shooting victims in Philadelphia in 2018 and 2019 than in previous years. That includes shootings like Nikolette Rivera, a 2-year-old who was in her mother’s arms when she was killed by a stray bullet in her own home.

“I will never forget it. I will never forget it,” a neighbor told Inquirer columnist Mike Newall. “There’s no way to even explain looking at a baby like that.”

I have two young kids, one of whom happens to be two years old, and I couldn’t keep Nikolette off my mind when began to brainstorm ideas involving Baby New Year tumbling towards 2020. Philadelphia has a lot of problems, but it feels like the safety of innocent children should be near the top of the list. Let’s hope Outlaw has what it takes to make a difference.

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