This story has been updated to correct the number of guns versus people in the U.S.
A familiar pattern is reemerging in Akron.
As temperatures begin to increase, so too does gun violence and crime, leaving us scrambling for solutions to quell the fallout.
We’ve seen this resume over the past month with drive-by shootings that have left people injured inside homes and a shooting in Highland Square that led to earlier business closings.
How do we break out of this pattern?
Yes, we could always use more proactive solutions, and our elevated crime rate — higher than the national average, though generally on par with similar-sized Midwest cities, and in some ways on a downward trend — still has room for improvement.
But curbing gun violence is no easy task when the issue spreads far beyond city borders.
Gun violence is a national issue
The larger problem at hand is that we have too many guns and too few firearm restrictions in the U.S.
As Akron Mayor Shammas Malik pointed out during a recent news conference, arguments that once would have ended in fistfights now descend into potentially deadly gunfights.
This is not just an Akron problem. The numbers speak for themselves:
The U.S. has more guns than people, according to data from World Population Review. Though we have less than 5% of the world’s population, we hold about 46% of all civilian-owned guns globally.
We are in the 93rd percentile of all countries for firearm mortalities, according to a report by The Commonwealth Fund. And among large, wealthy countries, the U.S. ranks first in firearm homicide rates and overall firearm death rates by many times.
What is the U.S. doing differently than every other developed country? Others view gun ownership as a privilege, while we view it as a right.
This is understandable: It’s written in our Constitution as such. But what was once a policy needed to protect our fledgling nation’s independence has transformed into a liability responsible for more than 40,000 deaths a year.
It’s also unlikely our Founding Fathers could have predicted the extent of the technology we’d possess today. Between the ability to convert firearms to automatic weapons with a “switch” to DIY guns that can be produced with 3D printers, firearms are far more accessible and deadly than they were when the Second Amendment was written into our nation’s identity.
Couple this with decentralized gun laws, and it’s no mystery why the U.S. stands out among its peers for violence.
What is worth questioning is what power city leaders have over this issue, because until we have state and federal politicians willing to stand up and advocate for true commonsense gun reform — including the establishment of a national registry, stricter storage regulations and restrictions on the deadliest weapons — we’re unlikely to see meaningful change.
In fact, in Ohio, lawmakers are looking to reduce city leaders’ power even further with legislation that penalizes cities and townships for trying to establish gun control policies.
The city is trying anyway
Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still try. The city has taken positive steps toward harm reduction after the Highland Square shooting, including working with businesses to temporarily close bars early and continuing to enforce early parking lot closures in the neighborhood.
The city has also launched a program to connect victims of gun violence with immediate support, trauma-informed care and long-term community services.
And the police department continues to operate its Gun Violence Reduction Team, which follows up on incidents involving firearms and examines the connections between shootings. This has resulted in wins such as the February indictment of nine people involved in alleged gang activity, as well as the arrest of more than 30 people in connection with firearm offenses based in Akron’s most violent areas.
Akron police Lt. Michael Murphy said the unit is working with the mayor’s office on more prevention programs, including expansion into Akron Public Schools to develop stronger relationships with the youth.
We would like to see the city continue pursuing additional proactive measures, like preventing access to abandoned buildings, clearing vacant lots and placing a greater priority on improving street lighting in areas with the highest levels of crime.
Ultimately, it’s unreasonable to expect city leaders to make a dent in gun violence when the true solution lies at the state and federal level.
Still, it’s uplifting to see them try anyway. Now, if only our state and federal lawmakers would do the same.
This piece was written by Akron Beacon Journal Opinion and Community Engagement Editor Theresa Bennett on behalf of the editorial board of the Beacon Journal. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Curbing gun violence in Akron beyond city’s control | Editorial
Reporting by Akron Beacon Journal Editorial Board, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Akron Beacon Journal Editorial Board, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
