Residents support councilmember’s gun violence plea BY BOB PEPALIS Sandy Springs residents were joined by a state representative in voicing support for City Councilmember Andy Bauman’s request that the city find ways to reduce gun violence and violent crime in the city in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting. Bauman’s suggestions included having council approve a resolution to influence state and federal legislation on gun safety, as well as support mental health intervention and other violent crime causes. “This is where we want to move beyond thoughts and prayers,” Bauman said. “We talk about protected neighborhoods. The ultimate responsibility in protecting neighborhoods is public safety.” Councilmembers voiced their approval of Bauman’s request that City Manager Eden Freeman and the city attorney get together and report back to the council with some strategies, opportunities and resources for reducing gun violence and dealing with violent crime in the city. “The question is, ‘Are we doing everything we can to make Sandy Springs the safest city as possible?’” Bauman asked.
Resident reaction Sandy Springs resident Tricia Gephardt said it is about gun safety and gun violence,
All elected officials need to take meaningful action, she said, as people feel isolated, disconnected and on their own. Rep. Shea Roberts said she decided to run for office in 2018 after her middle school child came home and described an active shootLeft, Councilmember Andy Bauman and Rep. Shea Roberts. er drill at her school. Two weeks later, 17 students were killed and 17 and she doesn’t want anyone to forget that. injured at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Her two children who attend school in SanSchool in Parkland, Florida, in a mass shootdy Springs experienced an active shooter situing. ation several years ago. “And I realized it had been six years since “And I was one of the moms outside the we watched babies being killed at Sandy school crying and hoping that my kids were Hook and not a damn thing had changed,” OK as they were barricaded in the door,” she Roberts said. “And here we are four years besaid. yond Parkland. And again, our babies [are] Resident Leslie Mullis said her middle being killed and nothing has changed.” daughter is a kindergarten teacher at DunResident Dontaye Carter challenged the woody Springs Elementary School in Sandy council to have the courage to think about Springs. these issues much deeper. He wants them to “When I first heard the news of the Uvaltake a stance as strongly as those taken against de shooting, all I can think of [was] this could gang violence. have been Maggie, and she would have been “What I’m concerned about is that trouthe only thing standing between that rifle and bled young person who wants the world to her five-year-olds in her classroom,” Mullis hurt as much as they are,” Carter said. said. Melanie Couchman, co-founder of San-
dy Springs Together, said most of the murders seen over the past couple of months were by disaffected, isolated and ignored youth. The city needs more green space for kids to come and play, she said. They need a youth center where boys and girls can go with supervision. “And we can do that in conjunction with our first responders. They are great role models,” Couchman said.
Council response Councilmember Jody Reichel suggested community members effect change at the voting booth. “I think that we’re at a turning point, that we need to help slow violent crime, especially gun violence, as much as we can,” Councilmember Melissa Mular said. Councilmember Tibby DeJulio said he regularly asks Police Chief Ken DeSimone to have officers speak to neighborhoods about safety. “I continually emphasize a couple of things: Close your garage door, lock your car and call 911. Our police will be there, and they’ll take care of it,” DeJulio said. Councilmember Melody Kelley asked that any city action helps the families living in multifamily housing communities. She said the council recently received statistics that showed a good amount of violent crime occurs in those communities.
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