Kansas City comes together on National Gun Violence Awareness Day to address the ongoing issue of gun violence.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – June 7 was National Gun Violence Awareness Day, and many leaders in Kansas City joined together to call for an end to the violence. Many KC homicides this year have been the result of guns. While homicide numbers are down this time of year compared to the same time in the last four years, gun violence is still a priority for city leaders and multiple organizations.
“So am I happy with where we are? Absolutely not, who could be? But we need to make sure that we are treating it like the epidemic it is,” said KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas.
On Friday, Mayor Quinton Lucas held a Walk For Solidarity and Expo at Illus Davis Park. They invited everyone to wear orange while they honored the victims, survivors, and families of each tragedy in KC and shared the violence prevention resources available.
Monica Henderson showed up to honor her 12-year-old son, Brian Derek Henderson.
“And as soon as I get out of the car my heart falls into my stomach and I immediately knew something was wrong with my son,” said Monica Henderson.
Her son was shot and killed about four years ago.
“You want the world to stop you like wait a minute don’t y’all know I just lost my son? What are you doing? Just stop just stop! Just for one minute,” said Henderson.
She said many of the organizations like AdHoc Group Against Crime, Aim4Peace, and Moms Demand Action embraced her after her son’s death.
“They are the reason why I could sit here and talk to you today,” said Henderson.
Mayor Lucas said it’s stories like Henderson’s are all important to know.
“Every shooting every homicide every incident is a problem, so don’t get it twisted we are never celebrating a lower number of homicides one homicide is too many,” said Mayor Lucas. He added, “I’ll be honest with you while I stand here I don’t need to talk about sports stadiums right now I care a lot more about public safety.”
s people gathered in front of City Hall, it showed just how many groups are on the ground each day.
“People like Moms Demand Action, KC Mothers in Charge, Brian Derek Henderson Foundation, and all the way through up to the Health Department and the Mayor’s Office,” said Moms Demand Action Local Leader, Stephenie Godfroy.
Mayor Lucas said it is collaboration that is going to create change.
“It is not a public health or public safety or a public official type of solution. It is everybody,” said Mayor Lucas. He added, “You are not seeing a fight right now of a police chief, prosecutor, mayor, anybody like that we are all sitting on the same page.”
There are many ways to do your part to help in Kansas City.
The new ‘SAVE KC’ initiative has been created to tackle the problem holistically. Anyone can get involved.
A list of organizations can be found below:
City of Kansas City Violence Prevention programs
Brian Derek Henderson Foundation
#NationalGunViolenceAwarenessDay #EndGunViolence #KCLeadersAgainstViolence
