Gunshots rang out as St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was discussing gun violence prevention. She didn’t flinch

news7g10/30/2021

3 2 minutes read

Gunshots rang out as St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones was discussing gun violence prevention. She didn't flinch

“My son and I go to sleep to the lullaby of gunshots within the distance each evening,” Jones mentioned, responding to a query on whether or not she felt protected. “It is part of my life now and that should not be.”

Earlier than the information convention, Jones and Kansas Metropolis Mayor Quinton Lucas had been taking part in a roundtable on how gun violence is affecting their cities.

“The sound of gunshots is a daily incidence in too many areas of my metropolis as nicely; one thing I grew to know from youth. At the moment’s photographs reminded us of the truth so lots of our sisters, brothers, and infants face every day and the necessity for change,” Lucas wrote in a tweet.

Nationwide gun violence charges had been 30% larger throughout a 13-month pandemic interval when put next with the identical interval the 12 months earlier than, a study published last week within the journal Scientific Studies confirmed.

“We discovered a powerful affiliation between the Covid-19 pandemic timeframe and a rise in gun violence within the U.S. in comparison with the pre-pandemic interval,” wrote the authors from Penn State School of Drugs.

The researchers checked out each day police studies which corresponded to gun-related accidents and deaths from February 1, 2019, to March 31, 2021. These studies got here from all 50 states and from Washington, DC, and had been obtained by means of the Gun Violence Archive, an impartial, not-for-profit group.

And Missouri was one of many 28 states the examine recognized as having a considerably larger threat of gun violence in the course of the pandemic.

Lucas was on a two-day tour as a part of an effort by each officers “to advertise regionalism amongst leaders within the state of Missouri and share greatest practices for public security, equitable improvement, and extra,” based on a news release from the St. Louis Mayor’s Workplace.

The mayors on Friday joined survivors of gun violence within the St. Louis neighborhood of Dutchtown, which implements group violence interruption packages, and toured the group to watch these efforts, the information launch mentioned.

“Advocates and survivors emphasised the necessity to handle root causes of crime and deal with gun violence like the general public well being disaster it’s,” the assertion mentioned. “Their level was emphasised additional within the press convention afterwards, when neither mayor flinched as gunshots rang out within the distance.”

CNN’s Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report.

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