Milwaukee City Wire

Milwaukee has a great deal to contribute to an anti-gun violence consortium that the city joined last week, Mayor Tom Barrett said in a recent social media post.

Barrett posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Nov. 10, the same day he "signed into place" Milwaukee's participation in the National Gun Safety Consortium, a group of public and private leaders and innovators bent on crossing partisan divides to reduce gun-related violence.

"We need to continue to innovate and implement the best new ideas that are available, such as new technologies that make it difficult for an unauthorized person to fire a weapon," Barrett said in his Twitter post. "Milwaukee has a long-standing commitment to advancing gun safety."

Milwaukee has been working for quite a while, on its own, to fight gun violence, including participation in "legislative discussions on gun laws" and also handing out gun locks, Barrett said.

So far this year, the city's Office of Violence Prevention has distributed more than 9,000 gun locks, Milwaukee Violence Prevention Director Arnitta Holliman said in a CBS 58 news story published the same day as Barrett's tweet.

Holliman was promoted from a position in the city's health department to the OVP office in May, according to a city news release at the time.

Since January, 168 homicides and 764 non-fatal shootings have been reported, compared to 169 homicides and 657 non-fatal shootings during the same period last year.

In its own news story published in January, WPR reported that 700 people were shot and 193 people were killed in Milwaukee last year.

The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence reports 604 gun deaths in Wisconsin in 2019. Almost 50 of those gun deaths were children or teenagers and more than 70% of the gun deaths were suicides.

COVID-19 has complicated the city's efforts, Barrett said in his Twitter post.

"During the pandemic, we've seen a spike in gun violence, and @mkeovp and @MilwaukeePolice have been working to stop it," Barrett said. "We are joining our partner @CommonGroundWI and a number of other municipalities around the country in this effort. Milwaukee will add to the work of the Gun Safety Consortium by purchasing, testing and reporting feedback on new firearm safety devices and technologies."

One of the primary goals of the National Gun Safety Consortium is education about proper storage and security of guns, according to the consortium website, which estimates 1,000 guns are stolen daily. The majority of those stolen guns end up being trafficked and used in violent crimes, according to the consortium's website.

In joining the National Gun Safety Consortium, Milwaukee will pay $10,000 in dues and continue its own work to curb gun violence.

"We are here because we support keeping people in the community safe and reducing gun violence," said Holliman in the CBS news story. "Ensuring that there is not unauthorized or accidental use of a gun."