Milwaukee mayor calls for stricter gun laws after spate of shootings in city

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is again calling on the state Legislature to pass stricter gun laws after the city experienced a violent week.

At least 15 people were shot in Milwaukee on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the latest media update from the Milwaukee Police Department. A 25-year-old was also fatally shot on Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday a 1-year-old was injured in a shooting.

The incidents prompted a Thursday afternoon press conference where city leaders and officials called for an end to the violence. 

“We as a community needs to step up and say enough, enough,” Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said during the press conference.

Johnson said the violence from a “small segment” of the city’s population has a lasting impact on the entire community. 

“It doesn’t just affect the person who was shot,” Johnson said. “Their family is affected, their kids are affected, their parents are affected, their friends and their neighbors are affected, their whole community is affected. Our city is affected by those things.”

He also said there’s a need for stricter federal and state gun laws to prevent some people from having weapons. That’s a sentiment he’s shared in the past, as city officials can’t control gun laws.

“We need stronger laws, particularly laws at the state and federal level, to circumvent that, so that we don’t see more bloodshed on the streets of Milwaukee,” Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to potential laws that would prohibit domestic abusers from having guns and prevent people who are buying guns without a background check.

“We have a Legislature in this state, and a state government in this state, not just the current Legislature but Legislatures past too, that just seem to refuse to act, just seem to refuse to do anything,” he said.

In response,  state Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, said he believes Johnson is playing the “blame game.”

“Milwaukee doesn’t have a gun problem, it has a criminal problem,” Donovan said. “Until our elected leaders — and I’m including the police chief, the mayor, the district attorney and the judges in Milwaukee — start holding people accountable for their crimes, this will continue.”

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos also issued a statement regarding Johnson’s comments.

“New laws will not make criminals behave better, only enforcement of the current laws can do that,” Vos said in the statement.

A statement from Milwaukee Alder Peter Bergelis said four of the shooting victims on Wednesday were from a mass shooting in his district on the city’s southwest side. 

“The cowards who fired dozens of rounds into a vehicle full of children need to be brought to justice before more harm is done to anyone else. No family in any neighborhood should have to endure the pain that this family has experienced,” the statement said.

A 2019 study found states with more relaxed gun control laws and “higher rates of gun ownership” have higher rates of mass shootings. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Wisconsin as a C for its “gun law strength.”

Homicides still down this year in Milwaukee

Homicides in Milwaukee are down 15 percent this year compared to last year, according to crime statistics from the Milwaukee Police Department. Nonfatal shootings are also down 29 percent. Even so, local leaders say more work still needs to be done.

Ashanti Hamilton, the executive director of the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, said the recent incidents of gun violence were “predictable,” as he said violence often increases in the summer months.

“We were all bracing ourselves for when the seasons changed,” Hamilton said during the press conference. “And there was an expectation that there would be an uptick in this type of behavior.”

Hamilton said there need to be more “supports” for neighborhoods and people across the city, including for younger people who are home from school during the summer months.

In the past few years, there have been several programs and partnerships for children in the summer months, including the “Safer City MKE” initiative.” That public-private partnership provides incentives for youth who participate in events and programs across the city when they’re not in school.

The first Milwaukee Peace Week, which included a neighborhood walk, gun violence summit, faith-based panel discussion and a resource fair, was also held last year.