Community must unite to combat gun violence

Published 10:54 pm Friday, January 13, 2017

Last year, there were seven murders investigated in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. In each case, a gun was involved. Five of those cases remain unsolved.

Of Baldwin County’s 103 aggravated assault cases in 2016, 78 involved a gun.

There were 12 armed robberies in Baldwin County last year and guns were used in 10 of those cases.

Twelve people were also arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in 2016, according to local police records.

Just within the past week, a home and car were sprayed with gunshots on First Street while a man was shot outside his home on Thomson Circle.

We could go on and on about the harsh realities of gun violence and the link between stolen guns, repeat criminal offenders and violent crime, but the truth is it’s sadly a storyline we already know too well.

Gun violence has been a recurring theme in Milledgeville and Baldwin County in recent months, reaching its peak in summer 2015 with a string of shootings that impacted the local community.

Several locals have been impacted firsthand while inside their own homes as bullets sprayed their residences. Ideally, our homes should be a place of refuge — a place to enjoy family and the company of others on our own terms — not a place or a scene to be marred by this type of violence.

But what’s the solution?

No, the local community is not alone in dealing with this issue, but that’s no excuse. We can’t just turn a blind eye.

It’s one thing to hear reports of other towns and cities on the news, but when the crimes hit closer to home in our own community, it’s a sign that change and action is needed.

While there may be differing views on the solution to the problem there should be no doubt that ending this violence must be a unifying issue for the entire community. 

This violence is a community issue; not just a law enforcement issue, and the community plays a vital role in helping put it to an end. There is likely no one act — no singular community forum, no one-time effort — that will enact the kind of change necessary to eradicate it. Ongoing efforts are needed, involving frank and serious conversation on the root causes. Perhaps a look at other communities that have successfully decreased their gun violence and the programs that they have found effective. Involving the church community on all sides as well as civic groups is a start, along with unifying them behind the effort to put a stop to this dangerous and too often deadly progression.

The community must stand in unity in acknowledging the problem and take a stand against it.

No matter the neighborhood, we all have a stake in ending the violence.