The crime rate in Los Angeles continues to rise and there seems little the citizenry, the police, or the government can do about it. A couple of weeks ago there was a total of 19 shootings over the course of just one weekend. Of those shootings, 13 were gang related. The national gangs are everywhere. They are all over the country and have had a great impact on the quality of life in this country.

So far this year there have been 251 murders in Los Angeles. This time last year the city had registered 225. Stories abound of innocent people being murdered in gang related activity. One story involved a 38-year-old father whose name was Eduardo Rebolledo, according to ABC News.

Eduardo had just punched out at his job and was getting into his pickup truck to go home to his wife and two children. About 50 feet from him were members of two rival gangs that were in the middle of a dispute. Bullets started flying from various gang members and Eduardo was hit by an errant bullet and killed. The LAPD says that this type of murder happens far too often in the nation’s second largest city.

Murders in Los Angeles are up 12 percent this year and people being shot is up over 20 percent from last year. Add another handful of shooting victims this year and Los Angeles will be able record the 1,000th person who has been shot this year in the city.

In response to the various shootings and violence that seems to grip the city, the Los Angeles police commissioner publicly remarked that LA was not Dodge City. Many churches and other organizations are training what they call “life comforters.” These are people who are trained to handle the grief and the rage of those whose loved ones have been murdered.

Murder is up all over the country and Los Angeles is not the only city that has seen its violence and murder rates skyrocket. Still, numbers are better than in the early 1990s when a crack cocaine epidemic seized the country. In 1992, Los Angeles registered 1,092 murders.