Gun violence is increasing in Pittsburgh and city officials are developing different ways to combat it.
The legislation presented to the city council on Tuesday would accept a $ 200,000 grant from Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country, to help hire a gun violence data fellow.
Tim McNulty, director of communications for Mayor Bill Peduto’s office, said that person is responsible for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting information related to gun violence, including murders, gross assaults, gunshots, gun arrests, and shootings involving officials .
“That money would hire a data expert to advance the gun use studies in the city,” said McNulty. “We’re already tracking this stuff, it’s in our annual reports, but this will give an even deeper look at the data.”
Two weeks ago, Pittsburgh public safety officials released figures showing that the number of homicides had increased 80% year-over-year and the number of non-fatal shootings had increased by over 90% over the same period.
McNulty said city officials are extremely concerned about the rise in gun violence in the city in recent months.
“We can only speculate as to why it happens,” said McNulty.
“We just can’t accept it in Pittsburgh,” said Peduto.
Adam Garber, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said it was important for cities like Pittsburgh to find innovative ways to end the gun violence epidemic across Pennsylvania.
“We’ve seen a huge surge in gun violence recently in places like Pittsburgh, and I think additional data to understand where the violence is happening, what is causing it, and how it can be reduced is a critical step in treatment the public health crisis is that it, ”said Garber.
Paul Guggenheimer is a contributor to Tribune Review. You can contact Paul at 724-226-7706 or pguggenheimer@triblive.com.
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