Addressing the Gun Violence Pandemic
By Jerri Green: Jerri has had gun violence impact her life three times, received an “F” from the NRA in her campaign to become the state representative for District 83, is a longtime volunteer with Moms Demand Action, and is #OneToughMother to three young children who she fights for everyday to grow up free from gun violence.
Every week I sit with a group of leaders and law enforcement officials from around our community to discuss the shootings in our city the prior week. We look at each case, each victim, each life forever altered by gun violence. We methodically go through every precinct, every shooting, every injury, every hospital admission, every death. And while we look for patterns, connections, ways to help, ways to serve our heartbroken community, every week it becomes more and more clear - we are fighting not just the COVID-19 pandemic, but a pandemic of gun violence as well.
While it is true crime overall is down in Memphis, it is also true violent crime, crime involving guns is up. The Shelby County Crime Commission recently released a report that violent incidents in Memphis involving guns increased over 30% compared to the same period last year. Perhaps even more disturbing, 70% of all reported violent crimes in Memphis involved guns. Seventy percent.
Sadly, most Memphians aren’t surprised by that number. They see the daily news – another teenager gunned down, another drive-by shooting on the highway, another child caught in the crossfire. We’ve almost become numb to the unending onslaught of stories and stats regarding gun crime in our city. We see the mother wailing on the nightly news, the stack of teddy bears on the corner, the empty chair at graduation. We see it so often; we sometimes forget the deep pain that accompanies each one.
And if we are unable to register another tragic story of loss of life due to gun violence, it should be no surprise that the leaders in our state government no longer listen to the truth about the effects of the laws they pass, the real pain they cause. They keep ignoring our pleas for commonsense and compassion while they forge ahead with the agenda of the NRA. Just this year, our Governor signed a law into effect allowing people to carry firearms in public without a permit, without training, and he did it in a Berretta factory. Shocking to some, but right in line with the GOP led state legislature that has signed into law other dangerous laws over the objections of many – including law enforcement.
These laws have real world consequences. For example, the state legislature passed a law allowing guns to be left in cars unsecured. Now statistics show over 40% of guns used in crimes in our city are stolen from vehicles. At the same time, interstate shootings are on pace to blow past last year’s record. And on top of that, we can no longer do gun buy backs to try to stem this tide of violence because the GOP added a law that says all guns recovered must be sold back into commerce. That’s right – a gun given to a police department has to be put back on the streets.
So I sit in these meetings every week, and I listen. I listen to the stories our state leaders don’t or won’t hear. And I look for one stat in particular – how old is our youngest victim this week? Sometimes it’s a 13-year-old hanging with the wrong crowd, sometimes it’s an 8-year-old playing in their own yard, sometimes they end up in the hospital for weeks before being released to recover at home, sometimes they don’t make it long enough for the ambulance to show up. Last week it was a 3-year-old, playing in her apartment, when the walls were peppered with gun spray during a drive by. She and her family survived, but forever she will now live knowing she isn’t safe even in her own home.
Our children deserve to feel safe. Our community deserves to live without fear. Our representatives need to do more. And if they don’t it is on us. Either our gun laws need to change, or we need to change who is making them. That’s the only way out of this pandemic.