The Ohio chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement after yesterday’s shooting in Cleveland of Anthony Hughes Jr., a Black 15-year-old, as he was leaving a community meeting on a police shooting. According to Cleveland.com, Hughes died after he was shot 16 times by an unidentified shooter as Hughes was walking home.
“Our hearts break for Anthony’s family, and the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance community who have been working tirelessly to help support young Black boys and girls like Anthony. Another young Black life with so much potential has been taken by gun violence,” said Brittany Dalton, a volunteer with the Ohio chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Gun violence continues to tear apart our state and we need our leaders to support evidence based solutions like local gun violence intervention programs that will actually protect Ohioans — and Black children like Anthony — from further risk of gun violence. Gun violence won’t stop until we begin to dismantle the systemic racism that has allowed it to thrive.”
Like many U.S. cities, including several in Ohio, Cleveland has seen a record number of gun homicides this year. Some facts about gun violence in Cleveland and other cities:
- COVID-19 has exacerbated the root causes of gun violence.
- The disproportionate impact of gun violence on cities, especially in Black and Latino communities, has existed for decades, caused by long-standing policy failures and systemic inequity. This year’s gun violence is likely a result of a number of factors, including lack of access to opportunity made worse by the pandemic. Read more debunked myths about increased daily gun violence here.
- The disproportionate impact of gun violence on cities, especially in Black and Latino communities, has existed for decades, caused by long-standing policy failures and systemic inequity. This year’s gun violence is likely a result of a number of factors, including lack of access to opportunity made worse by the pandemic. Read more debunked myths about increased daily gun violence here.
- Leadership in the Ohio state legislature has led to some of the weakest gun laws in the country, exacerbating the gun violence that kills nearly 1,500 people in Ohio a year.
- Ohio has no law requiring background checks on all gun sales and no laws prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing guns. See how Ohio gun laws compare to other states here.
- Despite promises to “do something” after the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio last year, state lawmakers have taken no action on background checks and red flag legislation – and are instead advancing Stand Your Ground legislation and a bill to strip training requirements for armed teachers.
- Local gun violence intervention groups have stepped up where Republican leadership has failed to save lives.
- Local gun violence intervention programs in Ohio, like Future Ambassadors and Urban League of Southwest Ohio, have worked to create opportunity in their communities and prevent gun violence. Since March, many groups have expanded their work to include preventing the spread of the virus.
- Local gun violence intervention programs in Ohio, like Future Ambassadors and Urban League of Southwest Ohio, have worked to create opportunity in their communities and prevent gun violence. Since March, many groups have expanded their work to include preventing the spread of the virus.
- Across Ohio, Black people are hit hardest by gun violence.
- Black people are 13 times as likely as white people to die by gun homicide, and Black children and teens are five times as likely as their white peers to die by guns.
- Black people are 13 times as likely as white people to die by gun homicide, and Black children and teens are five times as likely as their white peers to die by guns.
- In Cleveland, Black people are disproportionately impacted by violence by police.
- According to Mapping Police Violence, Black residents make up 12% of the population of Ohio, but are disproportionately impacted by police use of force. Black people were 4.6 times as likely to be killed by police as white people in Ohio from 2013 to 2019.