From the Record-Courier:
An Akron councilwoman is asking residents to take action and personal responsibility for a sharp rise in gun violence in the city.
Gun violence has been steadily climbing in Akron for the past three years, reaching levels not seen in recent history, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of shootings reported to the Akron Police Department.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Samples, who represents a lower-income corner of Akron with a disproportionate share of gun crimes, penned the open letter Friday.
“We are burying our young at an alarming rate and something must be done about it,” she wrote, telling a Beacon Journal reporter Sunday that her plea to end the violence is “getting pretty repetitive.”
Samples said many residents will not come forward to help police solve crimes unless it’s their families who are the victims. That has to change, she said.
Make it hard for suspects to hide and crime rates will fall, she said. Samples said every shooting needs the level of public concern demonstrated in the high-profile Na’Kia Crawford murder case. It’s “shameful” that the community really rallied when this Black victim’s suspects were wrongly thought to be white, she said.
Race shouldn’t matter, she said. Every case should.
The most important part of the article and her statement?
“However, it is up to us to change our own narrative. No, we are not the police, and, no we should not do the policing. However, we can police our children and grandchildren. How? Be showing them the right way, the positive way, the godly way. That is where we change the narrative, and the outcome.”
Hard to disagree. I just hope she no longer believes the nonsense she was peddling before:
AKRON, OH (WOIO) - Akron City Councilwoman Tara Samples introduced a resolution at Monday night's Akron City Council meeting that will push for restrictions on assault weapons.
"My stance on assault weapons is there needs to be a statewide ban," she said. "This is not a weapon that is used to defend your household or to even hunt with. This is a weapon of war, and it has no place on the streets in the state of Ohio."
The resolution passed 12-2.
One could hope she had finally learned that it’s not the guns, but much deeper issues that need to be addressed in order to effectively solve the problem and not just put a “feels good” band-aid on it. Her recent statement is encouraging.
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