gun violence

The Rev. Dr. Charles Harrison of Barnes United Methodist Church is one of the founders of Indianapolis Ten Point Coalition, which dates back to the late 1990s as a community group that patrols the streets of high-crime neighborhoods in an attempt to defuse and de-escalate violent crime. As those crime rates creep back toward levels […]

He suddenly vaulted from his desk chair to retrieve his open briefcase, which, he explained later, held a loaded gun. What if he hadn’t? What if our kids had discovered the weapon and thought it a plaything? What if?

It’s simplistic to point to one thing—guns—and say that’s the problem.

“We take security very seriously,” says Jay Ricker of Anderson-based Ricker Oil Co.

After experiencing this and the emotional toll, some might hesitate to pull their gun again.

“I don’t tell many people we own guns, which is why I don’t want to be identified here. I’m not sure how that would go over with other moms.”

“The rhetoric of the NRA has created an extremist group terrified their guns are going to be taken away.”

“Yes, I’ve carried a gun into the Statehouse in the past. Why? Because I can. It’s America.”

Indianapolis does not have a gun problem or a homicide problem or a crime problem or a socioeconomic problem or a drug problem. It has an all-of-the-above problem.

Where some of our more noteworthy state and local regulations fall on the pro-control–to–pro-gun spectrum

“A common misconception is that we’re searching for the bullet. We don’t care about the bullet.”

“It’s a crazy world, and you have to be more vigilant than you think.”

In 2014, Kansas City, historically one of the 10 most-violent U.S. cities, was headed for its lowest homicide rate in five decades.