Your weekly opinion and commentary overview

Good morning,

The weekend murder of 16-year-old Seandell Holliday in Millennium Park is one of a recent spate of downtown shootings, resulting in Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposing a ban on unaccompanied minors in the park after 6 p.m., Thursdays through Sundays.

To say we have a gun problem is an understatement. Curfews won’t solve that, the Editorial Board writes. An end to gun violence will take more effective gun regulation and long-term solutions that focus on jobs, education, mental health counseling and violence intervention.

The shooting in Buffalo over the weekend had many thinking about the number of people dead, white supremacy, gun control and the state of the nation. In his column, Neil Steinberg simply wonders: Why would an 18-year-old kill? “I focus on the apparent shooter’s age because it’s the aspect I can most relate to — I’ve never been to Buffalo, or shot anybody, or wanted to, or been shot. But I was 18,” Steinberg writes.

Lastly, an analysis of readings from newly-installed air sensors across the city found portions of Little Village, Austin, Englewood, Auburn Gresham, Irving Park and Avondale have the highest levels of particulate matter pollution. In a Letter to the Editor, Larry Craig of Wilmette says now that air pollution hotspots have been identified, let’s find a solution. Read the reporting and Larry’s suggestion, and see if you agree.

There is something very wrong in our city when a 16-year-old, seeing the deadly toll of gun violence all around him, writes about his life plans and ends with “if I make it to 21.”

There is something even more wrong when that 16-year-old is gunned down in the city’s showcase downtown park, allegedly by another teen, a 17-year-old.

The weekend murder of Seandell Holliday in Millennium Park is one of a recent spate of downtown shootings. Gun violence in the affluent and tourist-driven part of the city is just the latest example of the violence that touches every corner of Chicago.

Quick fixes, like Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s latest curfew restrictions for minors, won’t work to curb that violence among young people, research shows.

Change will only come with a multi-faceted approach: more effective gun regulation and long-term prevention that focuses on jobs, education, mental health counseling and violence intervention.

The Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board is the opinion voice of the hardest-working newspaper in America. It is headed by editorial page editor Lorraine Forte and includes Thomas Frisbie, Lee Bey, Ismael Pérez, Rummana Hussain and Mary Mitchell as members.

The murder of 10 in Buffalo leaves the riddle of how hate infects the young.

“Superimpose a map of tree coverage on the pollution map. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They also remove pollution out of the air.”

— Larry Craig, Wilmette

Every day we publish submissions from Chicago Sun-Times readers weighing in on issues facing the city and its residents. Send letters to letters@suntimes.com or reply to this email to share your perspective.