Kevin Simmons, a youth mentor and pastor who was repeatedly shot by a teenager to whom he was giving an Uber ride, said the first thing he remembers in the days after his 2023 shooting was a message of forgiveness.
“Just before I became conscious, I heard God tell me that, ‘You got another chance to get it right,'” Simmons said. “I forgave the young man for what he’d done, because if I’m going to be forgiven, I’ve got to forgive first.”
Violence, forgiveness and trauma were just some of the issues that Simmons and other panelists talked about at “Behind the Gun: Milwaukee Gun Owners Safety Summit” held on Saturday, March 7, at Prince Hall Masonic Temple on North Avenue in Milwaukee.
The panel, most of whom are gun owners, also discussed the responsibility that comes with owning firearms, and what needs to be done to reduce senseless shootings in Milwaukee and beyond.
The event was co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Marquette University’s O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism.
Speakers included Simmons, Prolific Arms co-owner Eddie Silas, and radio hosts Michelle Bryant and Homer Blow.
Blow stressed the importance of family and community members looking for signs of trouble and acting on them, adding that he often reads criminal complaints where warning signs were ignored.
“We need to pay attention to someone that may be having mental health, or somebody that’s just out here acting a damn fool,” said Blow, a music director and host of his online radio station, BlowRadio.com.
Bryant, who, like Blow, is a gun owner, said young people and adults need to be taught about gun safety.
“When we’re telling our children put guns down, we’re not going to teach you how to responsibly own a gun,” that’s a problem, said Bryant, a WNOV 860 AM 106.5 FM radio host and political strategist.
Silas, who also does firearms education, said that using his weapon in self-defense changed him forever – and more needs to be done to prevent violence.
“We have the responsibility to reach out into our community, grab the youth at a very early age, and teach them as much as possible,” he said. “We’ve got to go deeper. We’ve got to reach further. And education is the passport to the future, right?”
New discussions sparked by gun project
The March 7 event was the result of conversations in the community by investigative reporter John Diedrich and columnist James Causey, both of the Journal Sentinel, who co-moderated the panel.
Leaders from community groups and residents on the north side told Causey and Diedrich they wanted to have a frank and open discussion about firearms that went beyond simply, “put the guns down.”
It is the second event to emerge from the “Behind the Gun” project, which Diedrich reported through the O’Brien fellowship. The project revealed the full nature of gun deaths in Wisconsin, including suicides, and explored possible solutions in less-polarizing ways, in particular looking to ideas coming from gun owners.
In May 2024, the Journal Sentinel and Marquette co-hosted a panel and information fair in Wausau called, “At the Intersection of Firearms and Mental Health.”
In the project, Diedrich also examined unintentional shootings that injured or killed children. The Journal Sentinel found that Milwaukee almost always charges the caregivers involved in these shootings with felonies, while other counties in Wisconsin typically charge similar incidents as misdemeanors or not at all.
The defendants are usually related to the victims, most often the parents, and the majority had no criminal record, the analysis found. In the end, they receive probation or a short jail term, it found.
New approach for gun laws suggested
There has been little significant gun legislation in Wisconsin in more than a decade, despite repeated efforts by Democrats and some Republicans.
A new report from a working group of both gun control and gun rights advocates suggests proposals, that when taken together, could reduce firearms injuries and deaths while protecting gun owners’ rights.
The proposals include increased background checks, allowing guns to be taken when someone is a danger, improving gun storage practices, increased oversight of rogue gun dealers, and bringing gun safety instruction into schools.
This story was updated to add a video.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Can there be a new discussion on guns in Milwaukee? That’s the goal here
Reporting by Mary Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
