On July 16th a man was shot in Allentown and taken to a hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening. He was the 25th person shot in the city since June 1. What should be done to reduce the amount of gun violence in the city?”
We must take actions to stop illegal gun trafficking
Many of the recent shootings in Allentown bear the hallmarks of urban violence so common in America and have been reported to involve youth and gangs. We know enough about gun crime to be reasonably certain that the firearms involved have mostly found their way to Allentown’s streets illegally.
In the short term, Zero Youth Violence is a new program under the auspices of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley that is attempting to prevent gun violence by treating it somewhat like an infectious disease. This approach, pioneered by epidemiologist Gary Slutkin, reduced gun violence rates in some Chicago neighborhoods by 50% and more, and has been reproduced in many other urban neighborhoods across the country. Information is available in Slutkin’s TED talk on the internet.
In the long term, we must get serious about stopping illegal gun trafficking. Requiring the reporting of lost and stolen firearms to law enforcement is an example of a law that has been shown to reduce illegal trafficking, and there are others.
We also need to better understand the illegal flow of guns to design preventative policies. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s new Track Trace initiative should result in a public report delineating how guns travel from the point of legal purchase to recovery at a crime scene. We should also repeal Congress’ absurd, gun-lobby designed Tiahrt Amendments that prevent the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives from sharing their considerable gun trace information with researchers working to design better policy solutions.
Fritz Walker
South Whitehall Township
Impose severe punishments on violent offenders
There is no miracle cure for this disease of crime and as an average citizen perhaps my thoughts are overly simplistic and borne of frustration.
I often question how many repeat offenders are committing these horrid acts and why they are on the streets at all.
Blaming the police chief is useless, feel-good (for the accusers) nonsense. Studying and identifying the social causes of violence and how to best address those concerns and doing so, while valid is not a cure-all.
Educating the public to report suspicious activity and the willingness of witnesses to come forward with information will aid in bringing offenders to justice, but like the above is not the cure-all.
Attempting to impose more restrictions on law-abiding citizens is not going to help stem the violence.
I include that thought because like those who blame the police, there are those who like to place blame on the Second Amendment and those of us who support it.
Most important, when police apprehend the accused and when tried and if convicted, they should be severely punished, not coddled by a system which at times seems more interested in the rights of the criminal than pursuing justice for the victim and all law abiding citizens .
It should be made clear that committing a violent crime will result in serious consequences every time.
Mark Porcaro
Lower Mount Bethel Township.
Focus on the criminals not the weapons they use
The first step would be to stop blaming the firearm for what people do with it. The AR-15 and its clones have been available for public purchase since the 1960s with over 8 million now in circulation but the increase in violence is a more recent phenomenon. Additionally, aside from isolated tragedies, the problems seem to be happening in specific cities. Why is firearm violence more prevalent in Chicago than in Des Moines? In Allentown more so than in Bethlehem? Identifying the common denominators and addressing those is a good first step.
Another good step would be to impose minimum jail terms for use of a firearm in a crime. This has been tried in some areas but has proven to be ineffective since it is the first thing to be removed in a plea bargain. To be effective, it must be mandatory with no ability to plea bargain away.
The bottom line is that removing anything that is capable of being abused is not the solution. To be effective, we must focus on the abusers.
Ben Hedrick
Bethlehem Township
Impose harsher penalties for gun use during a crime
As a retired Allentown police officer I was livid when I read the article in The Morning Call on July 19th pertaining to the increase of shootings in the city, and some city officials putting the blame on the police department. The problem doesn’t lie within the police department, but rather with the influx of nonproductive people moving into the city.
First, and foremost, we need severe penalties for anyone using a firearm in the commission of any crime. For example, brandishing a firearm during a robbery would be an automatic 20 years with no parole for the first offense. Stop and frisk worked well in New York City until the liberals put a stop to it saying that violates the subject’s rights. Most liberal, or progressives, feel that strict gun control, and confiscation, is the answer, but in reality that would only penalize law-abiding gun owners, and would create soft targets for criminals. Harsh penalties are the best avenue to take, and would deter the use of firearms by criminals. So don’t harass our police, but focus on our legislators.
Robert C. Nickisher
Upper Macungie Township
Attack root causes of problem with variety of methods
Let’s take an analytical approach to the problem: Based on local and national reports, gun violence typically is driven by: 1.) illegal drug activity, 2.) domestic violence and/or 3.) gang activity. Yes, there are innocents involved in all three of these but the root causes remain the same. These violence catalysts are typically found in areas where there’s a high concentration of poverty — especially among the young.
I’ll propose some solutions:
Short Term:
The vibrant church and fraternal organizations in our inner city should initiate a before- and after-school mentoring program, recruiting qualified adults from their membership and working with school districts to provide more adult faces in front of our young people for more hours of the day. From my days on the Allentown School Board, we’d see higher levels of success when we got youth more face time with adults. This takes effort and organization, but our inner city organizations are quite capable of pulling this off.
Increase the intensity of anti-gang and conflict resolution training in our schools and neighborhoods.
Review the penalties for violent crime — both for perpetrators and those entities that foster crime.
Long Term:
Housing and development policies to reduce the concentration of poverty in our urban centers. While this runs counter to current movements around affordable housing, the 90% poverty rate among Allentown School District students is a direct attack on the civil right for a quality education for our lower income neighbors.
Collectively, we need to stop talking about this and start doing.
Charles Versaggi
Allentown