Richland sheriff: Community must unite to stop alarming rise in youth gun violence

We are losing a generation of 14-to-28-year-olds to gun violence. In 2021, gun violence was the number one killer of youth in America. This is not some distant statistic. Last year, our county statistics paralleled exactly this national data.

The recent tragedy in Uvalde is one more painful reminder of what a gun in the wrong hands can do to obliterate lives and destroy families. We live in a time in which we must bring our communities together to prevent senseless gun violence, particularly on the part of our youth.

As sheriff of Richland County for 25 years, I have seen deaths among youth from gun violence grow annually. I have seen mothers and fathers of young victims grieving; I have also seen tragedy in the lives of the families of the youths who use guns so recklessly and kill others. Their children are lost, in a different way, to a lifetime of prison. Last year, we had 32 deaths, most of them 14 to 28 years of age, in Richland County from gun violence. We solved them all, but this fact does not change the frustration and sadness that come with the loss of young life, particularly when so many deaths can be prevented.

We need to understand the environment in which many of our teens and young adults live. They are bombarded with what I call “the gun phenomena.” From an early age, much of what they see on television, in movies, in video games, and hear in their music glorifies guns. They live in a society in which gun violence is omnipresent, and our youth think less about the consequences of their actions. They must realize that life is not a video game. You can’t push a button and start over. Our youth correlate the holding of a gun in their hands with possessing power. At a time when so many of our youth feel aimless, many tell our officers how holding the cold heavy steel of a gun gives them a sense of importance, a way to demand respect.

This is why we must come together as a community, as a county, as local neighborhoods to begin to make plans and take actions to give our troubled youth more structure, more opportunities to feel a sense of worth, and more ways to learn life’s real lessons. They need to realize that they don’t need a gun in their hands to feel important. These ideas may seem trite, but sometimes the most basic wisdom is the best.

Some say that the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child” comes from an ancient African proverb; others believe the phrase originated within Native American culture. The origination of the proverb doesn’t matter; what does matter is that both African and Native American cultures depended greatly on the entire village’s commitment to help care for all of its children.

This is why we must become that village, a community that stands up and meets the needs of our youth who are adrift, those who don’t possess the values and innate compassion to moor them safely to real life. We must let them know that someone loves them; we must provide them with the lessons, the need to accept responsibility, and the human values they need to become responsible citizens. Everyday when we simply talk, but don’t act, people are dying.

Our “village” should encourage:

▪ a program of studies in place from early childhood through high school that teaches our children life skills to recognize their own worth and the worth of others, one that is imbedded throughout the entire curriculum;

▪ more churches to get “outside of their four walls” and create ministries that would attract youth-recreation rooms, sports programs, and other outreach opportunities to appeal to the interests and enjoyment of youth; more civic clubs, professional organizations, and older adults to generate new programs for youth, whether for mentoring or recreation;

▪ the institutions of higher education in our county to become more pro-active in creating activities for our youth who need direction, maybe as projects for their own students or for their athletic teams;

▪ our legislators to approve funds for more after-school programs, counseling, and structured activities for marginal youth.

And most critically, we need city and county leaders to create a task force to organize, inspire, and mobilize these efforts — not months from now, but right now. Today.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department stands ready to help create this task force. We will be at the forefront. I promise that we will contribute our own ideas, our own resources, and our own hearts to help Columbia and Richland County organize, implement, and deliver this much-needed coordination of programs for our youth. Their lives and the wellness of our community depend upon it.

This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 2:22 PM.