Roundtable discussion focuses on solutions to gun violence in Philadelphia
It was the goal of a roundtable discussion organized by Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- From leaders of small, local gun violence prevention organizations to the Philadelphia Police Commissioner, they all had a seat at the table and an opportunity to speak.
It was the goal of a roundtable discussion organized by Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson.
"We want to listen to your ideas," said Johnson, who is also the chairman of the City Council's Special Committee on Gun Violence Prevention.
The roundtable discussion was planned long before Saturday's mass shooting, but it couldn't have come at a more important time as the city continues to reel from the mass shooting in the 200 block of South Street that killed three people.
"The violence is a very complex thing and everybody and everything is connected to it," said Vanessa Garrett Harley, deputy mayor in the Office of Children and Families.
In order to get to the solution, city and community leaders first have to find the roots of the problem. One of those roots is access to guns.
"Growing up it might have been one or two (people with guns)," said Johnson. "Now everybody (has guns). And it's like you're not even cool if you don't have an extended clip."
Leaders are working to stop that by tracking purchases even in counties outside of Philadelphia. They're working with gun dealers in areas like Bucks County, which has the largest number of gun dealers in the area, according to Chief Deputy Attorney General Brendan O'Malley from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.
SEE ALSO: 2 men in custody, charged with murder in South Street mass shooting
"They get the extended magazine at the gun show. No background check. They get the ghost gun parts with no background check," said O'Malley.
Leaders also say there needs to be a change in the law, including one state law that prevents officers from stopping a person to see if they have a permit to legally carry a gun.
"If a person is walking on the subway with a gun in their hand, we cannot lawfully stop that person," said SEPTA Police Chief Tom Nestel.
Participants at the roundtable also discussed the need for compassion along with job and recreational opportunities for young people to prevent them from picking up a gun in the first place. They discussed the fact that a number of young people they encounter appear to be numb to the violence because of the trauma they've experienced.
"We're not going to police our way out of this. It is about mindset," said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.
The city has also diversified the methods to catch shooters. They now use a social media team to track conflicts and evidence. Those efforts are combined with real-time cameras and GPS monitoring. It helped catch some of the people who were in the area of the South Street shooting.
"We were able to identify four juveniles who were on GPS monitor that were in the area of the shooting," said Benny Price with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
Some of the leaders also say Philadelphia needs to have the power to create its own gun laws. They say it would help stop ghost guns which can be assembled at-home and are hard to trace. At the roundtable discussion, the attorney general's office revealed they've even confiscated 3D printers used to make gun parts in Philadelphia.
