Last Sunday, I attended the wake for Archie R. Brown Jr., who was gunned down after tragically hitting and killing 2-year-old Damani Terry. Later in the week, I attended the wake for Terry, his 15-year-old brother, Rasheed Chiles, and their uncle Ricky Chiles Jr. I saw two families who were absolutely devastated by a horrible accident and senseless violence.
As a community, we must do more to reduce the epidemic of gun violence. We are all affected and it's going to take all of us to make real and lasting change.
I will continue to advocate for common sense modifications to our state's laws to make it harder for criminals to carry and use guns. Opponents to any changes in state gun laws like to say," the problem isn't guns; it's the criminals who use them." If they really believe that, then why aren't we making it harder for criminals to access firearms?
In 2013, Milwaukee police seized and traced 195 handguns that had a time of purchase to crime committed of less than six months; in 2014, that number was 237, an increase of 22%. In 2013, 311 handguns had a time to crime of less than one year; in 2014, that number was 352, a 13% increase over 2013. What does this mean? More guns are being purchased and used in Milwaukee crimes faster each year. Criminals who buy, carry and use guns are not being deterred by our current system.
We need universal background checks for all private guns sales. We need to make carrying a gun without a permit a second time a felony and provide certainty in sentencing for individuals who violate the law. We need certainty in sentencing for all offenders who commit a crime using a gun.
The state should direct resources to create a fully staffed second gun court in Milwaukee and provide the state attorney general with the necessary resources to tackle, head-on, illegal straw purchases.
Our police do a phenomenal job helping to stabilize our neighborhoods. Last year, our department took almost as many guns off our streets as the New York Police Department took off of New York's streets.
I have budgeted 43% ($248.6 million) of the city's general operating budget to the Milwaukee Police Department. I am adding additional overtime resources to the Department to increase neighborhood deployments and to increase the investigation and prosecution of crime.
I have convened — and will continue to convene — our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to ensure that the most focused policing, prosecution and supervision is being applied to those criminals who have earned our heightened attention. I am committed to full cooperation and communication throughout the criminal justice system.
We are recruiting businesses to locate in Milwaukee, giving people a fresh start through our transitional jobs program and teaching the value of having a job though my summer youth jobs program Earn & Learn, which has put more than 22,000 teens to work since its inception.
With all we have done, I still need help from every sector of our community.
My request is simple: get involved.
There are opportunities through churches, through youth-serving agencies and by helping neighbors get to know each other and building civic participation, ownership and pride in neighborhoods.
Connect and cooperate with police officers. Sharing information can save lives.
From our neighborhoods to City Hall to the state Capital, we all have a stake in this. Most people don't know the victims of gun violence; the killings aren't taking place in their neighborhoods. But it defies common decency to stand idly by while human life is lost.
These lives lost, disproportionately African-American lives, matter. Black lives matter. All lives matter.
More than ever, I remain committed to neighborhoods where grandparents can sit on the porch on a warm summer day and watch their grandchildren play without fear of violence.
Violence is preventable — not inevitable.
Tom Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee.