Secure your gun

Urban League launches campaign to stop rise in stolen guns

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Elected officials and law enforcement officers joined the Tallahassee Urban League to deliver a message that seems to come up every time there is a shooting in the city.

“Don’t leave your gun in your unlocked car,” said Curtis Taylor, president of the local Urban League, setting the tone for what was to come during a press conference last Friday.

Supporters of the initiative want the eight words to become a slogan that every gun owner remembers. They believe that if enough people in the community push the message a reduction in gun violence would be possible.

“This affects all of us so we all must come together,” Taylor said.

Bid Bend Crime Stoppers is another organization that is supporting the Urban League’s effort. Sharon Ofuni, executive director of Crime Stoppers, encouraged witnesses to report gun-related crimes.

“When we are silent, everyone is a victim,” Ofuni said.

The kickoff of the campaign to spread the word about not leaving guns in unlocked cars comes at a time when the city seems to be under siege with gun-related crimes. There have been 49 shootings so far this year, with 13 deaths recorded. That includes three incidents of gun violence during the weekend.

Tallahassee Police Department Chief Lawrence Revell suspects that many of the shootings are with guns stolen from unlocked cars. He and Deputy Chief Maurice Holmes had the numbers to back up their suspicions.

As of last Friday, 110 guns were stolen so far this year, with 105 taken from unlocked vehicles. That puts the city on pace to top the 2022 numbers — 207 stolen guns with 194 from unlocked cars. Of 195 stolen guns in 2021, 181 were taken from cars that didn’t have restricted access.

 “We as a community have to come together,” Holmes said. “We can’t control what the gun laws are but we can control the fact that we don’t leave our guns in vehicles throughout the night, especially unlocked vehicle.”

Holmes added that this campaign could “get some traction going and some attention.” He expressed optimism that getting the community to buy into the locked car concept will be more effective than asking automobile owners to make sure they are locked by 9 p.m. or even the “lock or lose it” reminder.

“Unsecured guns, as we know, are a danger to society,” said County Commissioner Carolyn Cummings. “We must be responsible to ourselves, we must be responsible to our community, we must be responsible to our neighbors and friends but most of all we must be responsible to protect our children.”

Three days before last Friday’s press conference, members of the “Respect Yourself” Crime Prevention and Intervention Task met to reassess their progress. The task force was formed last November by Rev. RB Holmes, pastor at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.

The task force has several sub-committees, including one to offer city-wide prayer. That group, which is led by Pastor Judy Mandrell, has held prayer vigils for recent shooting victims.

The vigils are essential to bringing about change, Holmes said in a prepared statement.

“I’m a firm believer in the power of prayer,” he said. “I am appreciative that Pastor Judy Mandrell accepted the leadership in spearheading a monthly citywide prayer service, with the focus of praying for the safety of our community, praying for families who have become victims of gun violence, praying for our civic, religious and law enforcement leadership; and praying that almighty God will give us the wisdom, understanding, faith and strength to put in place successful crime intervention and prevention programs and services. We still believe prayer works and God does answer prayers.”

Holmes went on to echo the sentiments of speakers at last Friday’s press conference.

“It is too easy for people to access guns,” he said. “It is a travesty and tragedy that in this state it is now legal to purchase a gun without a permit, without a background check and without training,” Holmes said. “Yes, our work is cut out for us. I believe that if we pull together that Tallahassee can create a model for replication in other cities in their fight to stop the killing.”

 First-term state representative Gallop Franklin said he supports the Urban League’s initiative, promising to seek funding to look at merging biometrics and weapons. That would make a gun inoperable for anyone who isn’t the owner, he said.

The impact of rising gun violence goes beyond the victim and the suspect, Franklin said.

“When businesses are looking for places to invest their dollars to help our city and our economy grow, they are not going to come to a place where somebody ends up dead every other day,” he said.

Revell agreed that technology could help make inroads against gun crime. He announced that TPD is working with the ATF to set up a machine that could match shell casings to a specific gun and help identify the ones that are stolen  and used in a crime.

While TPD is backing the initiative to lock cars, Revell said his agency couldn’t identify any area where stealing guns is flagrant.

 “There is no pattern to this,” Revell said. “It is all over town. That’s why we need all our citizens to be more involved and know how important this is.”