I think the following Philadelphia Inquirer story -- headlined "Kids, Guns and a Deadly Toll" -- is a remarkable piece of reporting, not for what it says, but for what it does not say:

It's as if the minute Darnell Winn, 15, was shot and killed Saturday night, the streets started screaming his name: "Mook."

The nickname is spray-painted on abandoned houses, freshly tattooed on friends' forearms, scrawled on teddy bears on the sidewalk at 20th and Mifflin Streets in South Philadelphia where he was killed.

Mook's mother, Darcell Winn, says her son, a ninth grader at South Philadelphia High, wasn't good at reading and writing but loved art. "God takes one thing from you and he gives you another thing," she said. She paid $130 a month so Darnell could send drawings to a correspondence art school.

In Mook's room, his brother Da'Shawn, 2, tries to open a box of paintbrushes Mook received for Christmas. His mother regards the boy she gave birth to at 40. "God takes one," she says, "and I guess he gave me the baby."

A riveter, Darcell Winn was working when her mother called around midnight with confusing news. "I thought, 'Lord, it's not time for me to punch out.' "

Earlier, she had reminded Mook and his brother Dawoyne, 16, who were staying the night at their grandmother's, that they needed nice clothes for her birthday the next day. The brothers were heading home to get them when shots rang out. Police are investigating.

In a school composition last year, Mook wrote: "I believe that people shoud not be able to get a gun ... I believe that people shoud have to pay tax's. I believe in god because he is a powerful man. I believe in luck. I believe there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I will go to collage and get a great J.O.B."

But in the case of a killing, aren't we entitled to more than a recital that "shots rang out," and "police are investigating"? In the context of the story, it's as if the details of the killing have become irrelevant.

To illustrate my concern, imagine if this same boy had been killed by someone wielding a knife or a car. Would the report show a similar lack of detail?

"a knife blade flashed. Police are investigating"

or

"a car slammed into him. Police are investigating"

Have the identities, motivations, and whereabouts of child killers suddenly become a secondary consideration in the Inquirer's crime reporting?

Or is it possible that because of editorial bias against guns, the Inquirer thinks that the gun is all that matters?

Has the gun become the suspect?

Had this same kid been the victim of a fatal hit-and-run accident, I don't think the headline would have read "Kids, Cars and a Deadly Toll." I think there would there have been a major focus on identifying of the driver, and if his identity was unknown, the Inquirer would have given readers a police hotline number to call with any tips. (Maybe the name of any investigating officer, too?) Instead, this story reads as if the case is closed, as if the murderer's identity is beside the point.

This kid was a human being, and according to the Inquirer, the streets are screaming his name. If he'd been my friend, I'd want to know who did it. And even though I didn't know him, he was a fellow citizen, and I'd still like to see justice done. At a minimum, this means having the murderer identified, and punished.

Not innocent gun owners!

As it is, this whole blame-the-gun thing makes about as much sense as blaming penises for rape.

UPDATE: Lest anyone doubt that guns are being singled out for blame, here's more from the Inquirer:

Kids, Guns and Deadly Toll

Starting today, Inquirer photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner April Saul will take you inside the homes and neighborhoods of area children killed by gunfire. Throughout the year, in words and pictures, she will attempt to show the impact of these losses. The first child to die in 2006 was Darnell Winn, 15, whose funeral is at 11 a.m. today at New Gethsemene Baptist Church in South Philadelphia. B8.

UPDATE (01/24/06): Author April Saul has amended her complaint report, adding the following italicized sub-headline:

With staccato-like regularity, guns are killing children. Epidemic. Public health crisis. Tragedy. By whatever name, these deaths bring profound loss to families and communities. This series attempts to capture the look, the sound, and the feel of this loss.

Have words like "crime" and "murder" gone the way of "terrorism"?