Metro county DAs call rising gun violence a ‘health crisis’

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Two district attorneys in the Atlanta area are calling gun violence a health crisis.

“I think it is a Public Health Crisis,” said District Attorney of Clayton County Judicial Circuit Tasha Mosley.

Mosley is referring to gun violence in her area.

“It seems as of right now, I don’t know if the pandemic has heightened it, but it seems that individuals are quicker to pull out a gun and shoot someone than walking away,” Mosley said.

Mosley said she’s seeing more and more cases of that happening in Clayton County.

“We ran numbers from March 2020 to May 31, 2022. We had the total number of related firearm related charges -- 2,417. People are just not handling coming out of this pandemic well,” Mosley said.

“Crime is everywhere. It’s rising everywhere, so it’s no particular area that can be pinpointed as this area or that area. All areas. It can happen anywhere, anytime,” said Anthony Taylor, who lives in Clayton County.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearm injuries are a serious public health problem.

In 2020, there were 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States. That’s about 124 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day.

“We have to recognize the correlation between gun violence and public health,” said Douglas County District Attorney Dalia Racine.

Racine said she’s noticing an increase in her county as well.

“It’s an unfortunate phenomenon in the pandemic that we’re seeing an uptick in gun violence,” Racine said.

Channel 2′s Larry Spruill asked Racine how we should solve this massive problem.

She said step one is: “There has to be rational provisions around gun ownership.”

That’s why both Douglas County and Clayton County are conducting gun safety classes.

They’re also partnering with the school systems to speak to kids about guns.

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