In 2016, Vee Taylor-Tate’s family experienced every parent’s nightmare when one of her 6-year-old cousins found a gun inside the family home and accidentally shot his 9-year-old brother.
The boy survived, but the trauma never left her family.
For years afterward, the sound of that gunshot remained a reminder of how quickly a moment of carelessness could change a family forever.
For many people, an experience like that would have created a lifelong fear of firearms. Instead, it inspired Taylor-Tate to learn everything she could about them.
She became a certified firearms instructor and now teaches dozens of women across southeastern Wisconsin how to properly handle firearms, protect themselves and, most importantly, not fear them.
“In Milwaukee there is a lot of trauma related to guns and gun violence,” Taylor-Tate said. “I’m trying to give people, mostly women, a different way of thinking about guns.”
Taylor-Tate, 37, a firearms instructor at Prolific Arms, believes the conversation around gun violence needs to expand beyond simply blaming the weapon.
She wants people to talk more about conflict resolution — or the lack of it — and why arguments and disagreements so often escalate into deadly violence.
Taylor-Tate will be one of the panelists at the “Behind the Gun: Milwaukee Gun Owners’ Safety Summit,” which I will co-moderate Aug. 22 at Evolve Church, 6550 N. 76th St. The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Register: Get free tickets for Aug. 22 Behind the Gun event
It is the second such event co-hosted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Marquette University’s O’Brien Fellowship on Public Service Journalism. Prince Hall hosted a safety summit in March, which I also moderated.
The events, which also were held in Wausau, grew out of fellow reporter John Diedrich’s ‘Behind the Gun’ series, which sought to reframe firearms issues, focusing on stories and solutions from gun owners.
The summits are bringing together gun owners, community leaders and safety advocates for conversations about responsible gun ownership, violence prevention and finding solutions to one of Milwaukee’s most pressing challenges.
The event also will include breakout sessions for young people led by professionals who will discuss what to do if they encounter a firearm while providing a safe space for honest conversations about their experiences with guns.
Other panelists include Trell Johnson, a neighborhood organizer at Safe & Sound; Theron Roger, co-owner of Prolific Arms, director of business development and firearms instructor for adults and children; and Kevin Simmons, youth mentor and pastor.
Conflict resolution matters as much as gun ownership
Taylor-Tate believes the conversation around guns is finally beginning to change in Milwaukee — because it has to.
Few communities have carried the burden of gun violence more heavily than Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. But Taylor-Tate believes the conversation must go beyond the firearm itself and focus on what happens before someone pulls the trigger.
At the heart of many shootings, she said, is a breakdown in conflict resolution.
Instead of walking away from an argument, agreeing to disagree or finding a way to settle a disagreement without violence, too many conflicts escalate.
An argument becomes a fight. Someone feels embarrassed or disrespected. Then someone reaches for a gun. In seconds, two families are left grieving.
Taylor-Tate said a firearm should never be used to settle an argument.
“No one should ever get a gun to solve a problem just because they are mad at someone or upset because of disagreement or disrespect,” she said. “But too often, that is the first thing that happens.”
That is why Taylor-Tate believes firearm education is so important.
She said there is a difference between owning a gun and understanding the responsibility that comes with owning one. Knowing how to properly handle, store and respect a firearm can be the difference between responsible ownership and tragedy.
Taylor-Tate grew up around guns. Her grandmother carried a firearm for protection, but the message she heard growing up was simple: “Don’t touch it.”
Today, she teaches women individually and in groups about firearm safety, responsible ownership and how to make informed decisions about protecting themselves.
“If I have to protect myself, I know I can do it,” she said. “And I’m teaching other women how to do the same and not feel ashamed because they have to do so.”
Education, responsibility, and changing the conversation
Taylor-Tate said the purpose of the summit is to change the conversation about guns, helping law-abiding citizens move beyond the trauma surrounding gun violence and toward discussions about responsible gun ownership for home protection, personal safety and sport.
Her perspective resonates with me because I grew up around guns.
On my grandparents’ farm in the South, a gun was considered a tool, no different than a shovel or a tractor. My grandfather took one with him nearly everywhere he went, and he bought me my first gun when I was about 12 years old.
Some of my favorite memories with him were going deer and squirrel hunting together, although I was never nearly the marksman he was.
One thing he drilled into me was never to play around with a gun and always to treat every firearm as if it were loaded. My father shared that same philosophy. He always kept guns in the house, much to my mother’s dismay.
Today, I’m helping my wife overcome her fear of guns by teaching her about safe, responsible firearm ownership. I also encouraged her to take a gun safety course to help her become more comfortable around firearms.
As someone who has spent years writing about gun violence in Milwaukee, I’ve learned there are few issues more polarizing than gun safety. Conversations like this won’t solve the problem overnight, but refusing to have them certainly won’t either.
In addition to the panel discussion, the summit will include spaces where young people can talk openly about their experiences with guns.
Because owning a firearm comes with enormous responsibility — and because every year hundreds of firearms are stolen from vehicles in Milwaukee, many after being left unsecured — Prolific Guns will distribute 1,000 free vehicle firearm lockboxes, provide training on how to use them properly, installing them in cars that day, and offer 50 free firearm safety and concealed carry (CCW) course seats.
A resource fair also will connect attendees with organizations focused on violence prevention, youth mentoring, mental health and trauma support, family services, employment, reentry, faith-based support and public safety education.
If you’ve ever had questions about guns, this is a conversation worth being part of.
I understand that people have very different views on firearms, and far too many of us know someone whose life has been touched by gun violence. But in many cases, the problem is not simply the presence of a firearm. It is what happens when guns are handled irresponsibly, stored improperly or placed in the hands of people who should never have access to them.
Responsible gun ownership means understanding that owning a firearm is a serious responsibility — one that requires training, proper storage and respect for the power of the weapon.
Taylor-Tate, whose husband is legally prohibited from possessing firearms because he is a convicted felon, said responsible ownership also means recognizing that not everyone should have access to guns. She takes extra precautions in her own home to ensure he cannot access where her firearms are securely stored.
Whether you own a gun, are thinking about buying one, or simply want to better understand the role firearms play in our community, this summit is an opportunity to learn, ask questions and hear perspectives you may not have considered.
We may never all agree on guns, but we should all be able to agree on one thing: Every life lost to gun violence is one too many. If changing the conversation leads to more responsible gun ownership, safer storage and fewer families having to bury a loved one, then that’s a conversation Milwaukee can’t afford not to have.
Reach James E. Causey at jcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X @jecausey.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Behind the Gun: The conversation Milwaukee needs to have | Opinion
Reporting by James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
