Commissioner Danielle Outlaw discusses gun violence epidemic on GMA3
Philadelphia has seen more than 1,000 shooting victims so far this year, with about 200 of them fatal.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw appeared on GMA3 on Thursday to talk about the ongoing epidemic of gun violence and the situation residents are dealing with.
Outlaw talked about the accessibility and availability to weapons - especially ghost guns, which have been a big issue in the city.
She also highlighted the effort to make sure the violence is not the "norm," despite seeing a consistent rise since 2015.
BUILDING IT BETTER TOGETHER: Combating gun violence
"I don't want us to become comfortable and realize that there's still not a sense of urgency behind this. There's a learned helplessness that we're beginning to see," she said.
Reiterating a message we've heard before, Outlaw talked about the need for a collaborative effort to tackle surging crime.
Philadelphia has seen more than 1,000 shooting victims so far this year, with about 200 of them fatal. Outlaw detailed that close to 6,000 illegal guns have been taken off the Philadelphia streets, but the violence continues to climb.
She said one of the biggest things to help curb what we're seeing is tackling the issue of ghost guns - something that's been behind some of the city's shootings, including the mass on South Street earlier this month.
"If I know that there will be a serious consequence for illegally carrying a firearm, that likely should deter me from shooting and then also deter the homicides that we've been seeing," she said.
According to our 6abc Data Journalism Team, the number of ghost guns recovered by Philadelphia police has more than quintupled from 2019 to 2021. Last year, 571 ghost guns were taken off the street.
