Ward: GNV to fight gun violence though limited by state law 

The city of Gainesville declared gun violence a public health crisis nearly a year ago, and gun violence has filtered back to the top of conversation following multiple shootings in the area.  

The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) responded on Christmas to a shooting at Walgreens. The domestic incident left one person dead and another in the hospital and ended in a police pursuit with multiple children in the chased vehicle.   

On Dec. 30, four people were injured by gunfire near Rose Food Store on NE 16th Avenue. GPD has also responded in the last week to two separate homicides, one at The Park apartments and the other in the Suburban Heights neighborhood.  

“This is a frustration that any mayor in America has, for the most part,” Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said in a Friday interview. “Maybe some don’t, but I haven’t talked to any that aren’t trying to figure out how we work with this. We are working with at least one hand, and really it feels like two, tied behind our back.”   

Ward said he’s spoken with the mayors of Tampa, Orlando and Louisville, and gun violence crops up.  

Gainesville held a gun violence summit in August and plans to hold a smaller one in the future, Ward said, focusing more on the specific plans to put in place. But he said gun violence prevention is harder without being able to address guns specifically.  

“It’s easy to get a gun in Florida,” Ward said. “That’s the commonality in all of these incidents. The other commonality is that somebody ends up dead.” 

On any other topics, Ward said community and legislative leaders would focus on commonality—the guns. While the Florida Legislature has put forward bills concerning firearms, the ones with the most support aim to increase access.  

Rep. Chuck Brannan, R- Macclenny, who also represents part of Alachua County, has sponsored a bill that would reduce the age to buy a firearm from 21 to 18 years old. The bill, also filed in the last session, has support from five other legislators. The Legislature voted in 2018 to increase the age from 18 to 21 years old following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. 

Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, D-Gainesville, has also refiled a bill from last session that would mandate guns in vehicles be locked. Her bill came after a string of gun deaths in her district and increases in firearms stolen from cars.  

“Gun incidents happen every single day, and the Legislature right now is considering ways to make it easier for young people to get long guns,” Ward said. “I don’t understand it, but regardless, we will continue to try to work around the edges to figure it out.”   

He said the city can work on issues like mental health, summer activities for youth, career paths and encouraging citizens to keep guns stored safely. The city is also working to strengthen ties between responders—from GPD and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office to nonprofits and institutions like Santa Fe College.  

Like the domestic violence network, Ward said a gun violence network might also need to be formed and serve as a clearing house for these incidents.  

Ward said he has hope these efforts will reduce gun violence, but it’s not a direct attack.  

“Florida law is very specific that we cannot pass laws, rules or ordinances. . .that have anything to do with firearms or ammunition,” Ward said. “We just have to deal with the results of it, and I feel like every municipality in Florida is nibbling around the edges to try to do better work.” 

He believes the new central receiving facility operated by Meridian Behavioral Health will make an impact along with the co-responder teams already on the road.  

“Our police department does a terrific job—as well as any department in America and probably better than most,” Ward said. “We have tremendous officers, but we’re giving them odds that that are impossible. I don’t think that’s fair, and I don’t think that’s smart.”