The call to disarm has a reasonable ring to it. But given the facts, the notion of disarming local drug lords borders on the absurd. Philly's badlands are awash in weapons. And to hint that wholesale disarmament is even possible is to engage in magical thinking.

The loudest cries are coming from Michael Nutter, a man who would be mayor. But the soft-spoken former councilman seems to be goosing his image with some dangerously overblown rhetoric. Nutter says that we're going have to be "more aggressive in our policing to take guns away from criminals. ... It's a political-will issue."

Maybe it's just me, but when I hear "more aggressive" and "policing" in the same sentence, it sounds like open season. And to hear this from one would-be mayor, is like inviting the police to suspend civil rights.

Nutter calls this an issue of political will. Not with my vote, pal.

Still, let's ignore for a moment the inconvenience of civil rights. And let's admit that sending a battalion of blue into a fire zone will stop the battles. But only for a bit. Because history has it that once the police leave, the bad guys will be back.

And then there's the fallout: After a police occupation, even the good guys on the block won't work with the cops. That's a problem that's already bloomed into a weed.

Because when cops are hated, keeping silent becomes an act of self-affirmation. I'm haunted by a prophetic quote from a student named Isaiah, as reported by Doron Taussig [News, "Violent Reaction," Dec. 1, 2005]. By refusing to snitch, Isaiah makes his silence into a virtue: "Silence is part of our unity," says Isaiah, "[because] that's the only option they give us."

So, OK. But we're so desperate, we'll set aside the Bill of Rights and endure the community blowback. And let's say that the cops have frisked the punks and magically removed all the firepower. Would peace break out in the badlands?

For a minute, yeah. But new weapons would pour in like water into a torpedoed ship. And in this particular case, the torpedo comes from Harrisburg. Because unlike other cities in other states, Philadelphia has no power to reduce the inflow of arms. We can't license, prohibit or regulate them. There is some talk about limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but the passage of even that is dicey. Once again, Vince Fumo has failed us.

In the long run, it seems to me that aggressive policing "to take guns away from criminals" will work only if you suspend the Constitution, occupy communities, alter human nature and turn Harrisburg on its head. Candidate Nutter, that's cracked.

So what to do as the pop-pop-pops build to a crescendo in August?

The media has done a decent job of showing the suffering. But in a divided city, many still see only part of the picture. Though this much is for certain: Poverty is the handmaiden of violence, and if you want peace, communities must have something to live for. And these communities have nothing.

The Metropolitan Phila-delphia Indicators Project (MPIP) says in essence that life outside the city's affluent central core is essentially shit, and getting worse. Every indicator of quality of life is heading south: From 1990 to 2000, family income stayed flat, and real spending power has declined. Educational attainment is low, and staying there. There are few jobs. And people are too poor to repair the homes they've got.

The sad truth is that when you're young, black, male, unskilled and unemployed, viewing the world over the barrel of a Glock makes sense. In a community where your brightest prospect is dealing, being a lord of fear is your best shot at survival.

So, send in the cops and bust some heads if all you want is some temporary relief. But the killings won't quit until violence is no longer a rational choice. Till then, there will be no peace without justice — the economic justice that comes from a community that can sustain itself.

(bruce@schimmel.com)