COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus is taking its fight against gun violence to the federal level.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther announced Tuesday that the city will request to join a Department of Justice-led strike force against violent crime.
Ginther hopes the request is approved quickly.
“This issue is plaguing our city to a staggering degree,” Ginther said.
The mayor talked about the task force at the announcement of the new Columbus Alliance Against Illegal Guns Tuesday afternoon.
Ginther said it’s a coalition of residents, activists, medical professionals, and community leaders who will advocate for what he calls common-sense gun reform.
Illegal guns, according to Ginther, are driving the violence Columbus has been experiencing.
“My son was out here trying to make a difference in the community,” said Jacqueline Casimire, a member of the group Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children. “His services are no longer available because his life was taken away from him.”
Casmire’s son Ray was shot and killed back in September 2020, one day after his 30 birthday. He’s part of the reason she now does everything she can to keep other families from going through the pain she has.
“The illegal guns on the street are causing havoc in the communities,” she said.
As for those federal strike forces, the DOJ said they already exist in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Washington D.C.
The goal of the task forces is to stem the supply of illegally trafficked guns and the mayor wants Columbus to be part of the efforts.
“We don’t grow guns in the city of Columbus,” Ginther said. “We do not manufacture them here, but there’s a proliferation of illegal crime guns in our city and we need the Biden administration and the attorney general to join us in that fight.”
In 2021, the city experienced 204 homicides, a record. According to Ginther, 91 percent of them involved guns.
“It is an essential step in the right direction,” Ginther said of Tuesday’s announcements. “We’re putting front and center the outsized role of gun violence in our community and pursuing multiple measures to better protect all our neighbors, friends, loved ones from this dreadful scourge.”
It’s a step Casimire is glad to be part of and hoping others will join the effort.
“Be part of the change,” she said. “Don’t wait for it to knock on your door. It’s too late then. It’s too late when it knocks on your door, but if you get ahead of it, you may be able to save your child’s life or a child of somebody else’s.”
The mayor also said that gun violence is set to be declared a public health crisis within the city.
“In order to end the violence, we have to stop guns from illegally coming into our city and making their way to others where they inevitably are used to kill, cause brutal harm, or commit intolerable crimes,” Ginther said.
