The job of a police commissioner is, ostensibly, to protect the public. They lead the police department of a major city to combat the crime that could harm members of the city, hopefully arresting bad people before they can do bad things but at least trying to arrest them before they can do more bad things.

Seems pretty simple.

Unfortunately, the police commissioner in Philadelphia isn’t really able to do much to deal with the swelling violence in his city.

A day after six people were killed in Philadelphia, pushing the city’s annual homicide tally past last year’s total with nearly three months left in 2020, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and District Attorney Larry Krasner on Tuesday each publicly decried the ongoing and intensifying surge in gun violence.

Outlaw, flanked by her deputy commissioners during a morning news conference at Police Headquarters, described this year’s staggering increase in shootings as “shameful and sickening.”

Krasner, meanwhile, gathered a host of elected officials and citizens in Nicetown in the afternoon at what felt like an antiviolence rally. Speakers discussed topics including poverty’s intersection with crime, a need to coordinate the city and community response against violence, and stalled or blocked legislative attempts to advance gun-control measures.

“Those of you who have suffered losses in your family and are dealing with the pain of loss: We hear you. We care about you,” Krasner said.

I’m sure Krasner is bothered by what’s transpiring in his city, even if just out of a sense of self-preservation. If crime continues to climb, he’s likely to be out of a job, after all.

Oddly enough, though, there’s a lawsuit against the city that might actually solve some of the problem. After all, if people could get their carry permits before 2022, I suspect some of the issues would get resolved quick, fast, and in a hurry.

Yet we must also concede that violence is complicated. There’s rarely just a single cause for it. It’s easy to blame poverty or racism or drugs, or anything else, but the truth is that any combination of those may well be in play at a given point, plus a few others I didn’t mention. You’re not going to make it just go away with a single law.

However, it should be noted that while some may be pushing for gun control, I’d ask just how many of those arrested for these violent crimes obtained firearms through a legal manner. My guess is that absolutely none of them did. If any did, how many would have passed any background check because they hadn’t been convicted of anything before?

That’s why gun control doesn’t actually impact crime. The bad guys aren’t following any laws, much less gun laws.

Meanwhile, no one bothered to mention the backlog of gun permits for law-abiding citizens so they can protect themselves from the growing amount of crime in their city. Funny, that.

At the end of the day, Philadelphia is pretty jacked up by violence right now and the commissioner is right to be concerned. It’s just too bad no one in the city is really working toward a real solution.