As SC reels from 2 mass shootings, here’s what 5 cities did after similar gun violence

South Carolina was rocked by two mass shootings over Easter weekend and has endured dozens of injuries to individuals since the year began, prompting the question, what can be done?

Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook says authorities need to make people more aware of the consequences and to work with business owners to have security measures in place. He said even if the measures don’t prevent shootings they do help solve them.

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who has been outspoken about gun violence, especially among young people, said gun violence demands a whole community effort rather than a piecemeal approach.

“It’s not a law enforcement problem,” he said. Schools, neighborhoods, churches, the courts, all need to join together to confront the problem.

“We’ve never had that. Nobody wants to come together,” he said.

Groups want to protect their own programs, raise their own funds, he said.

“We need to change the hearts and minds of young people,” he said.

A violent weekend in the Midlands

Early Sunday, at least nine people were wounded when someone opened fire at Cara’s Lounge in Hampton County.

The owner told WJCL-TV 20 to 30 shots were fired..

It was the second mass shooting in Hampton County in the past eight months. Last September at the Yemassee Shrimp Festival, one man died and seven were injured.

On Saturday, nine people were shot and six others injured — all bystanders — when three people fired handguns inside Columbiana Centre in Columbia.

Two men were arrested and the U.S. Marshals Service offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a third.

Bond was denied Tuesday for the two gunmen in custody, Marquise Love Robinson, 20 and Jewayne M. Price, 22, who are charged with attempted murder, unlawful carrying of a pistol and nine counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, police said.

Amari Sincere-Jamal Smith, a 21-year-old from Columbia, is wanted on the same charges facing Robinson and Price.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 19,384 gun-related homicides in 2020 in the United States, averaging 53 people killed each day.

There were a rash of anti-gun violence programs in the 1990s across the nation and as many have waned and violence has increased, cities are starting to look for new ideas.

Here are five that recently launched programs.

New Orleans consolidates programs

New Orleans has ranked among the highest in the nation for gun violence for years. Several programs have been attempted with limited success.

Last year, recently elected Mayor LaToya Cantrell decided to go another way. She decided to create a city office to combat gun violence — the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Joshua Cox, the mayor’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, told NOLA.com the office will seek interventions that don’t involve the police, such as enlisting the help of barbers and beauticians, who program director Joshua Young described as “the core of the community.”

“If we can get those people to be conflict mediators and peace ambassadors ... to say, ‘we’re not doing it here, not in this area ...’ and if they continue that message it will continue in their community,” Young said.

The program will include an intervention and mediation program, a jobs program for people recently released from prison, job training and case management to young people in addition to the barber and beautician program.

Rochester, New York, has recently centralized gun violence reduction programs under the mayor’s office as well.

Pastors take on the problem themselves

In Cincinnati, two ministers have started a program to teach young children conflict resolution skills rather than turning to violence.

Pastor Francis Myadze with Church Without Walls International Inc. and his associate Pastor James Thomas, are looking to bring the Alliance for Better Citizens or the ABC program to every neighborhood in the city.

Students earn points that can be converted to cash for attending school or performing household chores.

Myadze said the problem stems from children having no understanding of resolving conflict without violence.

The answer, he said, is rewarding good behavior, encouraging young people to make good choices, earn money and think about college and the future.

Orlando’s S.A.F.E. Program

In January, the Orlando City Council in Florida set in motion a $500,000 plan called Safety Awareness For Everyone, or SAFE, to help downtown businesses upgrade their security systems, The Sacramento Bee reported..

According to WESH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Orlando, the program was started after a series of shootings in the downtown area. In 2021, seven people were wounded from two separate shootings during Halloween weekend in downtown Orlando. A veteran was also shot and killed in downtown.

These shootings are a reminder of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 people in Orlando, one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States.

Under the SAFE program, entertainment businesses such as bars, venues and night clubs can apply for funding to install security systems. This includes identification scanners, cameras and metal detectors. Other properties in the area can get funding for security cameras only.

The program also funds increased police presence downtown.

Metal detectors in Kansas City

In the Westport entertainment district in Kansas City, Missouri, people entering the popular nightlife area have to enter the pedestrian-only street through metal detectors — much like they would at a sporting event or concert, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Detectors were installed in 2018 to keep guns, ammunition and other firearms out of the area during warmer months, when violence typically increases.

April through October on Friday and Saturday nights from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., patrons must be screened before entering the hub of bars, shops and restaurants. This includes emptying pockets, opening purses and bags and walking through a metal detector.

Kim Kimbrough, the executive director of the Westport Regional Business League, said these security programs were planned after the area experienced violent incidents in 2017.

In a city with 150 homicides that year, the Kansas City Star reported three in Westport — two shootings and a stabbing.

But the safety measures weren’t implemented until after shootings in the bar district in 2018.

According to the Star, Westport has faced a string of shootings since 2018.

But Kimbrough said that since these protocols have been in place, weapon offenses have decreased dramatically.

The security screenings continue with added metal detectors in 2019 and more checkpoints in 2020.

“The goal here is to keep people safe and let them have a good time in doing so,” Kimbrough said. “It’s not foolproof but so far, for four seasons that we’ve done it ... it has worked really well.”

San Jose’s gun liability insurance

Early this year, San Jose became the first city in the country to approve a law that requires gun owners to have liability insurance coverage for their firearms. The San Jose City Council also levied an annual gun harm reduction fee, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Firearm owners in the city must pay this fee and the money will go toward violence reduction, suicide prevention and gun safety programs and mental health services for those affected by gun violence.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo proposed the measures in the summer of 2021 after a deadly mass shooting at the Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard killed nine people. According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, the gunman, who fatally shot himself after the rampage, was found with two semiautomatic handguns.

“The two components of this initiative — requiring liability insurance and the investment of gun fees into violence-reduction programs — utilize long-established public health approaches to reducing harm in other contexts,” Liccardo said in a news release.

This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.