Perkins, Reed hold joint press conference on gun violence initiatives

On Thursday, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. held a joint press conference to address gun violence and take initiatives to curb it.

Reed opened the conference, saying that the problem of gun violence isn't just local but national as well. He said that Perkins reached out to him with the idea of publicly discussing this issue as part of Gun Violence Awareness Month in June. 

After he gave his opening remarks, Perkins spoke. 

"My purpose for joining with my friend and colleague, the honorable Steven Reed, during his press conference is to speak to the frustrations, the setbacks and the misery index resulting from gun violence from within our communities," he said. 

"Statistically, politically and emotionally speaking, I'm convinced that what we are doing across this nation, including my own community, is not working." 

He went on to say that the "sheer" number of deaths related to guns shows that whatever efforts implemented to alleviate them has not been effective. He cited 14 murders in Selma in the past six months, most of them gun related. 

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He said that he supports gun ownership but stressed that there needs to be a stricter standards to "disarm those who should not have a gun." 

Perkins said he and Reed came up with an idea to invite community leaders, businesses and law enforcement to listen to victims of gun violence and those related to them. 

Reed also called for Congress to enact laws against owning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, laws requiring background checks for all gun sales and repealing immunity for liability for gun manufacturers. 

"We also see the need for more governors and state legislators to step up," he said. "Often they pass the bills, but it's the mayors and the city council and the police chiefs and officers who have to deal with the questions." 

See a full video on the press conference on the City of Montgomery's Facebook page here.