MICHIGAN CITY — Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, a new public health crisis has been declared in Michigan City: gun violence.
In response to a spike in gun-related crimes at the local, state and national levels, the Michigan City Common Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to establish an ad hoc Gun Violence Prevention Committee.
“Gun violence is a public health crisis,” Council president Angie Nelson-Deuitch said during a phone interview on Wednesday. “It’s everywhere, but it’s trickled down to Michigan City. We need to tackle it from a public health standpoint and get the right people at the table to come up with solutions.”
Nelson-Deuitch drafted the resolution creating the committee; and all eight of her fellow Council members signed on as co-sponsors, expressing support for bringing together mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, educators and other community partners to seek solutions.
The resolution was a timely decision, passed just one week after the Indiana House approved House Bill 1077 despite the opposition from several law enforcement groups.
Should the Indiana Senate also approve it, the bill would repeal the state law that requires eligible adults to obtain permits to carry guns.
Councilman Bryant Dabney expressed palpable disgust at the legislature’s decision during Tuesday’s Council meeting.
“The state of Indiana is not giving these cities any help whatsoever,” he said. “These guys … want you to carry guns to church. They simply do not care about public safety, and they’re doing anything they can to allow guns to be in the hands of just about anybody.
“The sad part about it is that this all revolves around money. The gun lobby comes in and chats with these guys, and they end up voting for this stuff. This is how these elections are funded. And unfortunately, we live in a state where ... these people simply do not care down at the Statehouse.”
Councilman Don Przybylinski said that with the threat of HB 1077 becoming law, the Council’s resolution is more important now than ever.
“Not only are we going to be dealing with the crisis we have now in Michigan City with handguns, but the crisis is going to get even bigger as time goes on,” he said.
“So, we need to get behind this resolution and get behind the work it’s going to take to get this done; and try to curtail the shootings, the murders, the dislodgment of families, and the suffering that goes on when these things take place.”
Councilman Gene Simmons, a former police chief, said, “We’re already in a crisis as far as guns go. And it’s a universal issue, it’s in every corner of America. But it’s incumbent on us to find solutions to address the issues here in this community.”
Simmons listed some of the partnerships he hopes to see the Gun Violence Prevention Committee explore, but one ranked high on the list of importance to him.
“Get parents involved,” he said. “A lot of these young kids running around Michigan City with guns – their parents know what they’re doing. That’s where we have to work, we have to key in on parents. We have to include them; they need to be part of the solution.”
Councilman Sean Fitzpatrick, who has worked with the coroners’ offices in La Porte and Porter counties, and assisted with autopsies for 16 years, said he’s noticed a marked increase in the number of gun-related fatalities in recent years.
“There’s no shortage of reasons to have an investigation of death, but if we can take gun violence off the table, I think we’ll be making strides toward a better thing,” Fitzpatrick said. “I can’t wait for the committee to form and start having these conversations.”
As Nelson-Deuitch made her case for the need for a Gun Violence Prevention Committee, she read her resolution in its entirety, citing the CDC, American Public Health Association and Everytown for Gun Safety for the statistics she shared:
More than 38,000 people are killed and nearly 85,000 injured by guns each year. (APHA)
In 2019, 39,707 firearm-related deaths occurred in the U.S. (CDC)
• Males represent 86 percent of those killed and 87 percent of those injured by guns. (CDC)
• Seven out of 10 medically-treated firearm injuries are the result of assaults. (CDC)
• Indiana is ranked [19th] in the U.S. for the highest rate of gun homicides. (EGS)
• Of all homicides in Indiana, 77 percent involve a gun, compared to 74 percent nationally. (EGS)
• Black Hoosiers are 14 times as likely to die by gun homicide as their white counterparts, compared to 10 times nationally. (EGS)
• More than 1,800 children and teens die by gun violence each year. (EGS)
• In Indiana, Black children and teens are six times as likely as their white peers to die by guns. (EGS)
“Gun violence is a public health crisis,” Nelson-Deuitch read from her resolution, “and as a result thereof, the need exists for the Michigan City Common Council and City administration to create working relationships with other local municipalities, community partners and community members to establish an evidence-based public health response to address the underlying social, economic and systemic factors that promote gun violence...”
The ad hoc committee will be responsible for reporting its findings and recommendations to the Council on a quarterly basis.
Councilman Michael Mack said the racial disparities in the statistics stand out to him, and warned of fearmongering and marketing ploys designed to paint gun violence as a Black problem.
“I’m really interested in us going beyond race in Michigan City, and us going into an extremely aggressive investment in programming facilities to capture youth early,” he said, noting a new cohort of students matriculates from middle school into high school each year.
“We either catch them or let them fly at the whim of whatever family situations they were born into not too long ago,” Mack said. “I’m very glad we’re having this discussion, because without real investment – you know, children are born into circumstances.
“Some children are born into great circumstances, others not so much. It’s going to take a village to give those children choices and options, to confer with the highest caliber of adults that the community has to offer, more so than what’s available in their [family] sphere.”
Dabney suggested the Council look at using some of the $16 million in federal funding the city received through the American Rescue Plan Act to combat gun violence and “save our people.”
During public comment, city resident Tom Kulavik cited Section 50-403 of the Michigan City Municipal Code, noting the fine for discharging a firearm within city limits is currently “a measly hundred bucks.”
He suggested the Council add a zero and begin charging violators $1,000 fines instead.
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