Prepared to talk: Why gun violence awareness matters
This is a five-part series covering a six-month long investigation on gun safety and awareness, inspired by the mass shooting event in Winder, Ga. at the beginning of the school year. Today is part four, which includes highlights from a recent gun violence awareness panel and provides information on firearm safety and storage.
From left to right, Dr. Elizabeth Fox, Lieutenant Daniel Madden, Colonel Bo Johnson and Captain Eric “Harry” Smith, spoke on gun violence in the CSRA. (photo by CM Wahl)
By CM Wahl | Managing Editor
“We must learn to talk about the most difficult things, easily,” said entrepreneur and author Srividya Srinivasan.
Srinivasan’s statement accentuates the importance of openly discussing tough subjects. In the Augusta community, being open about sensitive topics like gun violence can open a line of communication and educate those involved.
“Communication is key,” said James Lyons, chief of AU police.
Lyons explained that AUPD wants the community to have as much information as they can so they can keep themselves safe. He added that keeping everyone updated during emergencies is not only a requirement by law, but also a goal of the university police.
AUPD headquarters is located on 15th Street. (photo by CM Wahl)
Lyons said that AU police are charged with responding to an event, assessing it and gathering information, and determining whether to notify the AU community with an emergency notification so people can “understand what options they have.”
Lyons said that communication also plays a key role in preparation measures. The Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPaR) works with individual departments on developing emergency plans and is currently working on a larger community continuity plan. This means that they intend to work with the community-at-large to prevent and respond to potential threats together.
“In order to really be effective and have good emergency management,” said Joseph Webber, director of CEPaR, “we need everyone to understand that there’s personal responsibility that must be incorporated into all our individual plans. That way, when things do happen, we have a better coordinated response.”
Coordinated responses occur at many levels. Lyons said that even the new electronic access door controls are centrally managed so that if police need to do a traditional lockdown throughout an entire campus, it can be done “by a push of a button.”
Electronic access door controls are being installed on classroom doors on both campuses. (photo by CM Wahl)
The police’s efforts to collaborate with the community on serious topics was highlighted earlier this year when AU hosted a panel discussion called, “A Conversation on Gun Violence in the CSRA.” Moderated by Dean of Pamplin College, Kimberly Davies, PhD., guest panelists included Captain Eric “Harry” Smith of the AUPD professional standards division, Colonel Bo Johnson of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD), Lieutenant Daniel Madden of RCSD’s violent crimes division, and Dr. Elizabeth Fox, trauma medical director and associate professor at the Medical College of Georgia.
Fox spoke early on about the prevalence of gun trauma in the city of Augusta.
“I can tell you that this week I've been on call every day,” she said. “Every night, there's been someone under the age of 30 who's been shot.”
Fox explained that gun wounds stemmed from a variety of sources including accidental discharges from people who had access to guns in their home. Johnson added that much of the reason kids have gun access is because their parents are not watching or paying attention, and their guns are not properly holstered or locked away.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry trade association, provides information on safe handling and storage of firearms.
According to their brochure, “Firearms Responsibility in the Home,” firearm owners are responsible for making certain the firearms in their homes are “not casually accessible to anyone, especially curious young people.”
NSSF reported that more than 50 million Americans use rifles, shotguns and handguns for hunting and target practice. They stated that firearm accidents can be prevented when owners keep them unloaded and safely stored, with ammunition secured separately.
“This is where firearms responsibility in the home begins – and ends,” said NSSF.
NSSF listed several ideal places to store firearms, including locked cabinets, gun safes and vaults, lock boxes and firearm storage cases. They advised that firearm locking devices are intended to deter access by unauthorized people and that all members of the home must understand and comply with firearm responsibilities.
“You must be absolutely certain that no firearm can be accessed by an at-risk or prohibited person,” stated NSSF. “Simply hiding a firearm is not secure storage and poses a risk.”
Smith said that guns also end up on the streets because they’re stolen out of cars. He recently did a study of car break-ins spanning the last 5 years at AU and found that over 80 percent of them were documented as unlocked and showed no signs of forced entry.
“When we talk about gun violence in the community,” said Smith, “we talk about how many guns are out there and how easy and accessible [they are], and our concerns about how guns get into the wrong hands.”
Johnson said that he’s working on a training class for schools and churches on general gun safety and state laws. He said that many people don’t understand the consequences or magnitude a gun purchase carries, and that it is important to educate them.
“You'll be surprised,” he said, “how many people get a brand-new gun and something to shoot and hear the power for the first time, and they don't want the gun no more.”
Fox stated what most surprised her is that people in Augusta don’t seem to be talking about gun violence as often as they should.
“It just kind of emphasizes how common things are around here that, you know,” she said, “people know somebody who was shot. People know somebody who has a gun. People know somebody who got a gun stolen… Nobody talks about it because [these] things are so common, it’s now a part of life.”
As a sociologist, Davies asked if today’s culture had something to do with “confrontational homicides,” where people kill because they won’t back down from a fight. She posed a question on whether these people would just stab each other if they didn’t have access to guns.
“My personal opinion,” said Madden, “it's a tool. If you didn't have that, you'd use something else.”
Smith said that he believes how kids are taught to approach conflict in elementary and high school is an influential factor. He stated that while he was taught to deal with conflict on his own, kids today are told to notify a responsible adult, which is not handling conflict “in a very productive way.”
“I found that the conflict resolution that my kids were being taught at a very young age was, ‘Get somebody else to deal with it,’” he said.
Smith stated that gun violence is “a multi-disciplinary problem.” He said it is a public health, mental health, education, parenting, school system and faith community problem that requires a “multi-disciplinary consortium” to address it.
“We can’t do it on our own as law enforcement,” he said, and added, “It’s not just my problem, it’s not just your problem, it’s our problem – as a community.”
For the next article in this series, see “Prepared to help: Who distressed students can talk to.”
Contact CM Wahl at cwahl@augusta.edu.
Moderator Kimberly Davies posed with panelists and other Richmond County sheriffs at the “Conversation on Gun Violence in the CSRA” panel discussion on Feb. 27. (photo by CM Wahl)
