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Mayor Ernie Davis said that guns alone are not the problem noting that it's people’s attitudes that lead to violent crime. Davis said that adults have to serve as better examples for children if the problem is ever going to solved.
“We have children losing their lives in this very city,” Davis said. “There are children 13, 14 and 15 years old using guns against each other. We have traffickers selling guns to children in this city. It sows the seeds of hatred when people would rather destroy each other than work together.”
City Clerk George Brown said that the events in Connecticut are another reminder of why people shouldn’t take things for granted.
“We need to cherish each other and not go to sleep at night mad,” Brown said.
State Sen. Ruth Hassel-Thompson said that now is the time to take action on gun control, adding that the state Legislature needs to regulate the amount of guns and which type of firearms are allowed in communities.
“Perhaps now we will stop being told that we are over-the-top and want to legislate everything,” Hassel-Thompson said. “It is going to happen again and again unless we take control.”
City Council President Roberta Apuzzo recalled the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and how a pledge was made to be kinder to each other. Even so, Apuzzo said, the world has not become a better place.
“We need to get back to basics and realize that we need peace and have to work towards it,” Apuzzo said.
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