Hope isn’t a word common to the fight to reduce gun violence in our communities. Tragic, frustrating, infuriating, avoidable — these are more frequent descriptions of the plague which exacts an incalculable toll with each crime that happens in our streets.
Yet, two new studies — one by the General Assembly’s auditing arm and another by researchers at the University of Virginia — illuminate a roadmap to making real progress to curb gun violence and bolster public safety, particularly in places with high rates of shootings and deaths. There is promise — and, yes, hope — that this important work can help save lives and begin to heal those places where gunfire has inflicted so much pain and sorrow.
Last month, Portsmouth officials and community leaders gathered at City Hall to plead for peace. In a span of 20 days, four people were fatally shot in the city and a 5-month-old was wounded.
“We are not going to normalize this type of behavior,” said Police Chief Stephen Jenkins. “It is unacceptable for any life to be lost in this city.”
The resolute determination by officials and residents alike to stop gun violence in Portsmouth, Norfolk, Hampton and the rest of our regional jurisdictions is beyond question. Though violent crime has fallen in most of Hampton Roads in recent years, tragedy continues to unfold in our communities — violence inflicted by guns, and violence we must work together to stop.
Toward that end, Virginia lawmakers in 2024 directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to examine the effects of community gun violence in Virginia, which the commission delivered in December.
JLARC pointed out that nine localities experience gun violence at far higher levels than the rest of Virginia, four of which — Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth — are in Hampton Roads. The report concluded that a surge in funding for prevention and intervention efforts in those communities would be the best use of state funding and provide the resources needed to deliver tangible results.
As a companion to those findings, though separate from JLARC’s work, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Law spoke to Virginians who live in places with high rates of gun violence, with a specific focus on young people in disadvantaged neighborhoods — those most likely to be victims and who feel the need to carry firearms.
Their report chronicled ways the trauma of violence harms a community and infects each generation and how young people use social media to initiate or perpetuate conflicts resulting in violence. But they also noted, as did the JLARC report, how few localities — and, really, specific neighborhoods — are true “hot spots” for gun violence.
It’s important to note that neither report calls for additional gun control measures, choosing to sidestep the politics of that issue, but rather sought to outline the depleting effects gun violence inflicts on communities; to identify not only cities, but specific neighborhoods where shootings are an acute problem; and to highlight initiatives that have either delivered results or have the potential to effect change.
That’s especially needed in Hampton Roads, where gun violence prevention efforts have advanced in fits and starts. Greater cooperation across jurisdictions, more effective use of data and doubling down on what works (early intervention, trauma counseling, social media guardrails) could boost public safety for more of our residents.
Set aside the debate in Richmond over new laws, and instead recognize that using data to zero in on affected communities, treating gun violence as a public health issue and marshaling robust resources to intervene, deter and heal, cities in our region have a real opportunity to make a lasting, positive difference in the lives of countless young people and their families.
If there’s ever been a reason for hope in the fight against gun violence, surely this is it. State and local officials would do well to absorb these findings and, bolstered by public support for reducing gun violence, act decisively to save lives.
