My friend Emily has a T-shirt that reads: "Brave enough to live in America's most dangerous city."

In late 2006, when the list of America's safest and most dangerous cities was released by Morgan Quitno Press, a lot of St. Louisans balked at our city's No. 1 ranking – just ahead of Detroit. The statistics cited a 20 percent increase in violent crime here.

Morgan Quitno's numbers are a bit misleading. The data take into account only crime in the city of St. Louis – not St. Louis County. The city's population is only 330,000 and isn't part of the county. Any amount of crime in a population  that small is going to be more than a tiny blip on the radar.

Detroit's population is roughly 1 million. At No. 2 for most dangerous, that's a lot of crime. 

If those numbers are accurate, and our city really was more dangerous than before, we surely didn't notice.

The crime was being offset by good things. We were all too busy reveling in the Cardinals' World Series victory and enjoying the multimillion-dollar urban-renewal projects taking place all over the city.

This year, however, I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that we're the most dangerous city in America. Or possibly the universe.

It seems like every time I log onto STLtoday.com, check my Twitter feed or turn on the local TV news, there's been another shooting in the city.

The trend hit close to home in when someone was gunned down in the basement of a loft building just a block from mine. Though the incident doesn't seem entirely random (police aren't speculating on a motive, but it sounds like it could be a case of "jealous ex does away with new man"), it still spooked me a bit.

My heightened awareness of gun violence in the city isn't unwarranted.  

From a story by Fox 2's John Gadson today (unedited for your enjoyment):

Mayor Francis Slay addressed the issue last week in his blog:

Too many murders. Why can’t they (the police, the judges, the jailers, the prosecutors) stop them?

It isn’t because they don’t try – and it isn’t because they don’t care. ...

I have talked to every group that will listen about helping build stronger families, create better schools, occupy kids after schools, offer better training and jobs to young City residents, and get guns off our streets.

We’ve made progress, but a May of murders disguises it.

I shudder to see where St. Louis ranks in crime statistics this year. I haven't reached the point where I'm terrified to leave my home. I'm certainly a lot more cautious and aware of my surroundings, though.

But if the crime wave continues, it truly may take some bravery to live here.