Local nonprofits partner to raise awareness around gun violence
Olivia Hayes
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mom’s Demand Action Missouri and Powerhouse Community Development led a joint effort against gun violence Friday night.
In light of National Gun Violence Awareness Day, the groups gathered with and for survivors of gun violence at Douglass Park in Columbia. Attendees wore orange in solidarity.
Two of those in attendance included Kimberly Jordan-Sheeley and her mother Karen Jordan. The Jordan family has lost at least five of its own family members in Columbia shootings: James Hickem, Antonio Houston, Demetrius Ware, Sam Baldwin and Corey Jordan.
Corey Jordan, Kimberly’s brother and Karen’s son, was shot and killed in the same park Friday night’s event was held at.
“The security here in Douglass Park, I think we need to take a look at that,” Jordan-Sheeley said.
Jordan-Sheeley called for more community collaboration as one way to combat the issue of gun violence.
“Everybody has to come together from the First Ward to the Fifth Ward. One or two people just can’t do it, one or two agencies can’t do it. We all have to come together, it’s a community problem,” Jordan-Sheeley said.
Jordan said stricter gun laws could have changed the outcome in her son’s case, and others facing the same thing.
“A gun was owned by someone else and was given to the person, or it was allowed in an area where that person easily got it and committed that crime,” Jordan said.
Columbia’s state representatives echoed Jordan’s sentiments, but detailed a number of roadblocks to get there.
“There’s all these political talking points. Politicians blame this group, the city blames this group, some people say it’s a family issue, but we need to figure it out,” state Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) said.
“You’ve got teenagers out in the middle of the night and they have guns on them and there’s nothing the police can do to take those guns away,” state Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia).
Steinhoff ad Tyson Smith also called on parents to take action in hopes of curbing the issue of youth gun violence.
“Kids today, even young adults today, they have grown up playing video games that have massive violence involved with incidents,” Steinhoff said.
“Parents need to step up, put a lock on your kids. Don’t let your kids out in the middle of the night,” Tyson Smith said.