Panelists discuss root causes of gun violence in Missouri in ‘Seeking Solutions’ event
Experts on Tuesday discussed the root causes of Missouri’s rise in gun violence and solutions to rebuilding communities in the third piece of the digital series Gun Violence in Missouri: Seeking Solutions, held by The Kansas City Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and American Public Square at Jewell.
It is part of the Missouri Gun Violence Project, a two-year, statewide journalism collaboration that investigates the causes and potential solutions to gun violence. Nonprofits Report for America and Missouri Foundation for Health support the project.
The discussion was led by moderator Pamela “Denise” Long, a consultant and trainer for trauma informed care and racial equity, and adjunct faculty at Southern Illinois University. The conversation ranged from how income inequality is associated with gun violence rates to building trust with police officers.
Keith Jefferson, a North St. Louis resident and community activist, said he lost a son to violence in 2017.
“To me, it hurts because as I grew up young we always had the police that was in our community. We had the people who looked like us,” Jefferson said. “Now when you call the police, it’s a totally different band of officers.”
In predominantly-Black neighborhoods, Jefferson said, most people won’t go to police.
Retired St. Louis police officer Robert Jordan Jr., who grew up and still lives in North St. Louis, said the lack of jobs and education creates an environment that is “inclusive of violence.” He said violence becomes the way to survive.
Defunding police, Jordan said, would redirect funds for police to other services so that police can focus on violence. For example, it could go to create positions to assist people with drug abuse, in difficult social situations or who are struggling with mental illnesses.
“We need to rebuild relationships,” Jordan said. “We want our communities to be better.”
To do that, he said, it’s important to reinvest in the communities and in education.
Gun violence is an epidemic and should be treated through a public health approach, said Dr. Lindsay Davidson Clukies, associate medical director for trauma services at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine.
“In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that everyone is talking about, we’ve seen worsening of this firearm epidemic,” said Clukies, who works in pediatric emergency medicine.
The hospital has broken records for the number of children who have been shot this year. Clukies said the children they see are growing younger and are coming in with increasingly severe injuries. They work on bringing awareness to the epidemic and educating medical professionals on talking to families about firearms.
Research and prevention, Clukies said, are key to curing the epidemic.
Richard Rosenfeld, criminologist and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said a few of the underlying causes include poverty, racial segregation, joblessness and an unwillingness to work with police in cases of gun violence.
Rosenfeld said many problems are related to the depopulation of St. Louis.
He suggested a three-pronged program to approach gun violence: subdue the pandemic, increase efforts at effective and fair policing, and take police reform seriously.
Rosenfeld also mentioned a Johns Hopkins University study that found Missouri’s firearm homicide rates increased after the state repealed its purchaser licensing law.
Stories published by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch as part of the Missouri Gun Violence Project describe a street with concentrated violence, the impact of stronger firepower and what groups working to stem the violence face.
Jefferson said it’s time to restore neighborhoods and build connections.
“If we rebuild those relationships,” Jefferson said, “it has to be a ‘we’ and ‘us,’ not an ‘I.’”
Gun violence is the subject of a statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 5:47 PM.
