The mayors of two Alabama cities joined together Thursday to discuss the “frustration, the setbacks and the misery index” resulting from gun violence in their communities and nationwide.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Selma Mayor James Perkins said held a press conference as part of National Gun Violence Awareness Month and said they are committed to facilitating a vessel for possibly solutions to the ongoing gun violence crisis.
“Statistically, politically and emotionally speaking, I’m convinced what we’re doing across this nation, including my own community, is not working,’’ Perkins said. “The sheer numbers of gun violence deaths confirm that what we’re doing is simply not working.”
“The number of parents who are burying their children because of gun violence,’’ he said, “confirms to me that what we’re doing is simply not working.”
Selma has had 14 murders in the past six months, 13 of those gun-related, the mayor said. The youngest victim was just 5 years old.
Montgomery has had 37 homicides this year, with arrests made in 62 percent of the slayings.
Both mayors said they believe the new permitless carry law is part of the problem. Alabama on New Year’s Day became the 25th state to remove a requirement for gun owners to purchase a permit to carry a handgun.
“Law enforcement personnel at all levels are telling me that this permitless carry law makes it nearly impossible to execute preventive policing of illegal guns and the illegal use of guns,’’ Perkins said.
“What we’re starting to see is more non-fatal shootings,’’ Reed said. “That coincides directly with the permitless carry bill that was passed…across this country.”
Reed said they’ve seen a 40 percent increase in non-fatal shootings in Montgomery this year.
“But gun arrests are down because everybody has a right to carry irrespective of a permit or not,’’ he said. “We’ve taken 900 guns off the streets, but we’re still seeing guns playing too much of a role in disputes and arguments.”
Perkins said authorities have not done a good job of listening to victims.
“We need to really listen to mothers and fathers who have had to bury their children because of some senseless act of gun violence. We need to listen to children and parents who are suffering from anxiety over the risk of sending their children to school,’’ he said.
“We need to listen to families and elders who are afraid to go to church over fear of some deranged individual with some military-style weapon randomly shooting people down within the sanctuary.”
“We need to listen to the people who we vow to serve,’’ Perkins said.
The Selma mayor said he owns guns, and he doesn’t want to disarm law-abiding citizens.
“The bottom line is to disarm those who should not have a gun,’’ he said. “I challenge anyone to help me understand the need for military assault style weapons on the streets in our communities.”
Perkins said he and Reed don’t have the answers, but they believe they need to invite federal, state and local law enforcement, business leaders and faith leaders to have a frank conversation – not about what’s happening, but about what can be done that hasn’t been tried previously.
That includes listening to victims.
“We need to listen to the people who are caught up in our inability to make decisions to address this situation,’’ he said. “I’m convinced if we do that honestly and genuinely, we will be able to address some of the frustrations, setbacks and misery index.”
Reed said Gun Violence Awareness Month highlights the challenges seen across the country from gun violence.
“None of us can do this by ourselves but we do believe through our platforms and our ability to convene, we do have an opportunity to reach out to people from all backgrounds across our region to address this topic,’’ Reed said.
Reed also talked about the lack of conflict resolution and the country’s fascination with the gun culture.
“Nobody wants to be show up and no one wants to be last to pull their gun because they believe the other person has one,’’ he said.
Reed said his Office of Violence Prevention, though small, is doing yeoman’s work. He said his city is also working with Central Alabama Crime Stoppers and expanding technology, including Shot Spotter.
But more needs to be done.
“We understand and really hear your frustration. We hear and feel your pain,’’ he said. “We want to do everything we can to try to rectify that.”
“We believe this is the start of a very important collaboration,’’ Reed said, “that will move with forward with action steps soon to come and it’s one that we welcome feedback and interaction.”
