Stop the violence

As I am sitting here thinking about all of the gun violence that continues to happen every single day and tears apart multiple families, friends as well as the community in which we live, I am very disheartened that it has happened again today.

It's upsetting to me that you can't even go out to your job to provide for your family and may not even make it home. This community has definitely changed since I have been here for almost 12 years. It makes me very angry that this is continuing to happen every single day. I am not oblivious to gun violence by any means, but we need to do better and we need to hold people accountable for their actions. We need to do better to ensure that our community is a safe place. There are children who go to school and play outside with their friends but are afraid to go outside and play.

We need to have the hard conversations with city officials as well as police officers to come to some common ground. Every day more than 120 Americans are killed with guns.

Research shows that common sense public safety laws can reduce gun violence and save lives. Seventy-one percent of African Americans have been impacted by gun violence in their lives. The gun homicide rate in the United States is 26 times higher than that of other developed countries. As a survivor of domestic and firearms violence, I'm very dissatisfied.

LESLIE ANNE WASHINGTON, Cape Girardeau