We must act to reduce gun violence

I love my native city Philadelphia.

I love the diverse food, the vibrant culture and our rich history.

We have great art and science museums and top-rated colleges and universities.  

I have a love-hate relationship with our sports teams. 

What I don’t love is the poverty. Philadelphia is the poorest of the largest U.S. cities with 23.3 percent of its residents living in poverty. 

What I don’t love is one of the consequences of concentrated poverty and easy access to guns - violent crime. 

Philadelphia recently reached a tragic milestone. Fatal shootings have now brought the city’s total number of homicides this year to beyond 400, a sad milestone reached only twice in the last two decades.

In 2020, the city ended up with 499 killings, only one short of the record 500 slayings in 1980. As of October 5, the homicide count was at 420. Killings are up 18% from the same time last year.

“I am heartbroken and outraged that we’ve lost more than 400 Philadelphians to preventable violence this year,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a recent statement. “I want all residents to know that our administration takes this crisis very seriously and we’re acting with urgency to reduce violence and save lives.”

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner echoed similar remarks in a statement: “We should all be outraged that senseless, preventable violence continues to claim and break lives here in Philadelphia and in communities across the country that are also experiencing alarming increases in gun violence.”

Krasner is right. Many cities across the United Sates are experiencing a spike in gun violence.

“Among wealthier countries, developed countries, the USA is an outlier when it comes to firearm violence,” says Amnesty International. “U.S. governments have allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis. Wide access to firearms and loose regulations lead to more than 39,000 men, women and children being killed with guns each year in the USA.”

The Washington Post reports that 2020 was the deadliest year for gun violence in decades and that so far 2021 is worse.

In Philadelphia, if both fatal and nonfatal shootings are included, 1,696 people had been shot through Sept. 22, according to police, the second-highest total in any year since 2007, the year police began recording “shooting victims” as a separate category of “aggravated assault with a gun.”

Law enforcement experts point to many reasons for the rise in gun violence, including the coronavirus pandemic, which exacerbated mental health and economic problems; increased availability of illegal guns; poverty; and the role of social media in exacerbating arguments.

In New York City, there was a 100% increase in shootings in 2020 from the year prior. Accidental shootings, domestic violence, suicide contributed to it, but the biggest drivers of gun violence are gangs fighting over turf and drug money, said New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea. 

In response to the gun violence crisis, Krasner stressed the importance of investing “vigorously and continuously” in children.

In June, Philadelphia’s City Council approved a fiscal 2022 budget that invests over $155 million in violence prevention programs to help curb the escalating gun violence. That sum includes $22 million in grants for organizations focused on “reducing violence through trauma-informed healing and restorative practices and safe havens and mentorship.”

The new city budget also funds a $400 million program to create affordable housing, preserve neighborhoods, increase job growth, support anti-poverty measures, and continue police reform and gives additional funds to revitalize the city’s arts, culture and hospitality sectors.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and other elected state leaders were in West Philadelphia recently to encourage community-based violence prevention groups to apply for millions of dollars in state grants. As they spoke, four people were shot in a drive-by nearby, underscoring how pervasive the issue has become.

At the federal level, President Joe Biden’s administration chose Philadelphia as one of 15 cities across the country to take part in a collaborative effort to share violence prevention strategies.

These are worthwhile long-term solutions, but more urgent actions are needed to stem violent crime now.

Gun violence will not be significantly reduced when only 29% of homicides and 15% of nonfatal shootings result in arrests by police so far in 2021, according to an analysis by Philadelphia’s District Attorney’s office.

An analysis by the Philadelphia Inquirer in March found that police are on pace to make 3,000 arrests this year for carrying a gun illegally, a record, but the people charged are less likely to be convicted.

Gun violence will not be significantly reduced if people accused of illegally carrying guns have seen their chances of getting convicted in court plunge from 63% in 2017 to 49% two years later, the Inquirer reported.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the city’s criminal justice system has become a “revolving door for repeat gun offenders — leaving more of them on the street with their weapons, with little reason to fear the consequences of being caught,” the Inquirer reported.

“Although she declined to single out District Attorney Larry Krasner, her top partner in Philadelphia law enforcement, Outlaw echoed a point that the Inquirer analysis revealed — that the conviction rate for being caught with an illegal gun dropped after Krasner was sworn into office in January 2018.

“If there’s nothing to deter folks, if there’s no consequences where people believe, ‘If I do this, this is going to happen,’ (then) there’s no incentive to not carry a gun illegally, quite frankly,” the commissioner said.

To reduce gun violence in the United States, local police and prosecutors, as well as state and federal law enforcement, must work together to more effectively remove illegal guns and violent repeat criminals off the streets. Lawmakers must work to reduce the easy access to guns by requiring background checks to identify risk factors such as prior criminal record or violent behavior.  

Irv Randolph is an award-winning journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @IrvRandolph and at the RandolphReport@substack.com