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NAACP, Dayton residents attempt to solve rise in gun violence in communities

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DAYTON — Dayton residents gathered at a meeting with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to discuss the prevalence of gun violence in the United States and possible actions that could be taken to remedy the issue.

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Dozens of Dayton residents gathered at a town hall with NAACP to attempt to find a solution that could curb gun violence, and possibly solve it. However, rather than finding a definitive solution to a grander problem, the meeting more so showed the affect of gun violence on the community.

The moderator asked how many people at the meeting were impacted by gun violence, to which several people raised their hands, News Center 7 Reporter Brandon Lewis stated.

“When that casket closes, or your mother or your father puts you on their mantelpiece, or whatever part of their house, everybody goes away. Nobody calls and checks on you to see how you’re doing,” Crystal Perkins Scott, a grieving mother, said.

Scott lost her 25-year-old son, Chrishawn, in a 2020 shooting.

“I had been suicidal. I wanted to kill myself. The only thing that keeps me living is my children that I have left,” Scott said.

“I don’t sleep at night. When y’all are up, y’all are getting ready for work. I probably got 2 hours of sleep throughout the whole day,” Scott continued.

Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal said a possible solution was the community’s participation with solving the issue.

“The answer is all of us, not just the police. You can give me 100 more cops, 300 more cops. That’s still not going to be more than enough for 140,000 people living in the city,” Afzal said.

Dayton saw more than a 20 percent increase in violent gun crimes compared to this point last year. However, gun crimes with injuries were down five percent with firearm homicides being down 17 percent.

“We can’t look at each isolated gun event and think that’s it. It is much more pervasive as that as we can look in our communities and others, there are multiple gun shootings every day. So it is a crisis,” Chair of the Dayton Unit NAACP Health Committee Dr. Morris Brown said.

Brown encouraged people to sign up and take action against gun violence in the community.

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