GNV concludes gun summit, looks to future action 

A panel of speakers touch on topics discussed during separate breakout sessions.
A panel of speakers touch on topics discussed during separate breakout sessions.
Photo by Seth Johnson

The city of Gainesville concluded its two-day gun violence prevention summit, Choose Peace, on Monday with roundtables and discussions on how to put plans into action across the community.  

The summit comes after two years of dealing with youth gun violence and an increase in shooting incidents. The Gainesville City Commission declared a gun violence crisis in February.  

Leaders from the city, Alachua County, law enforcement and the education system showed up at the Hilton UF Conference Center, along with community group like Moms Demand Action, the League of Women Voters and Peaceful Paths.   

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At the start, Mayor Harvey Ward reminded attendees that the summit concerned guns, not sticks and stones or bows and arrows. And yet, he said the city and county must work with one hand behind its back because Florida law blocks local government from placing restrictions on firearms.  

Gainesville Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut reports on elected officials' ideas from a separate session.
Photo by Seth Johnson Gainesville Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut reports on elected officials’ ideas from a separate session.

“While we know we can’t do anything about guns, strange as that is, we can build structures for our community,” Ward said. “We can use the infrastructure that already exists to step up and say we’re going to do more. We’re going to build around what we can’t do and build safer structures for the people who depend on everybody in this room to live safely.” 

During the Monday session, leaders touched on ideas ranging from increased communication with partners to trade programs, community policing and economic development. Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut also said the city may need to take a look at its open container ordinance and receive data on the impacts while also supporting firearm safety legislation at the state level.  

Keynote speaker Ariel Cathcart, with Everytown for Gun Safety, spoke on her work with mayors and cities across the nation. She said mayors and policy setters can initiate change, but they need help. 

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward speaks at the city's gun violence prevention summit.
Photo by Seth Johnson Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward speaks at the city’s gun violence prevention summit.

“Without a community presence, effective policy will never succeed, and when people show up, day in and day out, transformative things happen,” Cathcart said.  

The Sunday session centered on the community perspective, actions neighbors can take and their point of view. More than 400 people showed up for the meetings that lasted from 2 to 9 p.m. 

Gainesville has held meetings on gun violence over the past couple of years, including a town hall in December 2021 and the police department’s unveiling of its One Community response to gun violence earlier that year.  

Spurred by deaths in the area, state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson filed a bill that would mandate secure storage of firearms in vehicles during the 2023 legislative session, and community members gathered last week to hold a vigil in memory of Ajike “A.J.” Owens who was killed in Ocala two months ago.  

Gainesville Police Department Chief Lonnie Scott said communication will be important moving forward. He said the same people who commit crimes in Gainesville do the same in surrounding areas like Lake City, Williston and Palatka.  

“Typically, we run across information, and we keep that information to ourselves,” Scott said. “We need to share that information across the spectrum, regionally, so that we’re all on the same page.” 

Ward said one of his goals for the session is to create a network of partners and for those groups to report back to one another and the community about progress, perhaps with another meeting in January.  

“We can do better than that,” Ward said referencing a double homicide from last weekend. “And shame on us if we don’t do better.” 

Alachua County Chair Anna Prizzia speaks at Gainesville's gun violence summit.
Alachua County Chair Anna Prizzia speaks at Gainesville’s gun violence summit.

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Eric

How about holding the criminals responsible for their actions and stop liberal prosecutors who plea deal repeat offenders to lower grade crimes.

John

That makes too much sense.

Mike

I know how they should start. ANY gun that commits a crime should have a mandatory therapy and if that’s a violent crime it should be subjected to minimum prison time.
Guns should NEVER be allowed to commit violence against people.

Seriously though, in order to properly address any problem – you must first correctly identify that problem. Referring to ‘gun violence’ does not identify a problem, it shows that people are still too emotional to address it.

But emotional actions make it much easier to justify using Other People’s Money to pay for summits and retreats and visits to other locations for studies. Then, when the problems get even worse, illogical finger pointing works well.

Kurt Johnsen

Kudos and thank you to everyone for making these efforts. We will all have to figure out what we can do to make a positive difference. In my opinion however nebulous directives like “we can do better “ are uninspiring and directing shame at people is very off putting.

529

“After all is said and done, far more is said, than done.”

Juan

When will the Fools of Gainesville get past denial and accept their reckless Alcohol open container and late night bar openings has fueled the murders, shootings , assaults into a massive problem. Of course recycling and lack of consequences of the criminals is just as guilty in creating another Failed Democrat run City . Woke and Broke.

Dennis

Blah, Blah Blah. A lot of talk with no action.