While it was hardly shocking to learn that Memorial Day weekend provided no respite from gun violence in Baltimore, there was something especially brazen about the Saturday night shooting of two 17-year-olds, one of whom later died, at the Inner Harbor at 7:35 p.m. near the amphitheater — a peak time and place for visitors and police. As Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison later observed, there were at least 20 officers in the general vicinity. The perpetrator clearly wasn’t concerned about getting caught.
If that wasn’t depressing enough, two other men were killed in a triple shooting later that night, and a woman was shot and killed early Sunday. And then, before the weekend even started, there was the matter of 83-year-old Marjorie Tyson who was reading a book in her own home in Northwest Baltimore when she felt a sharp pain as if bitten by a snake or spider. A stray bullet had come through her window and into her arm, leaving her bleeding badly. She required hospital care but was soon allowed to go home — to wonder how one can feel safe in a city where such things happen. “I’m not at ease,” she told The Sun’s Lea Skene.
She is also well aware of the city’s homicide woes having lost a grandson to gun violence.
There are no easy solutions here; more police or mandatory sentencing is not going to cut it. And for those who view gun violence only as a political talking point in order to blame this mayor or that police commissioner or prosecutor: Stop it, just stop it. We understand that it’s an election year with fewer than 50 days now until the July 19 primary, but can we at least declare a moratorium on ill-informed bloviation? Any candidate for public office who shows no awareness of the multitude of factors that contribute to Baltimore’s circumstances — concentrated poverty, racial disparity, the loss of working-class jobs, the failed war on drugs, untreated mental illness and substance abuse, the loss of family structure, underperforming schools and so on — should not be taken seriously. Such individuals are not offerings solutions but peddling snake oil as a quick fix.
The political posturing was engaged in earnest last week when Gov. Larry Hogan launched a nasty little missive at Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott complaining about the “utter lack of progress” from his crime plan. The letter hit the governor’s sweet spot when it comes to Baltimore, which is to say he could demonstrate disapproval without showing any personal responsibility for that portion of his state (one-tenth of the population).
And while Mayor Scott will be held accountable for his actions (as most assuredly should Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby), that’s the job of city voters, not the lame duck governor. If Mr. Hogan sincerely wants to help, he might take such actions as: reinstating state police patrols in the city, alerting local police to parole violations of violent offenders sooner (there is now often a 24-hour delay) and improve data sharing so city patrol cars can instantly read license plates through their dash cameras. The mayor has requested all of the above from the state.
Here’s an idea: Candidates for governor should watch all six episodes of “We Own This City,” former Sun reporter Justin Fenton’s account of the Baltimore Police Department’s notorious Gun Trace Task Force. Just viewing the last episode, which aired Memorial Day on HBO, with its summation of all who went to prison at the time of these events (including a former city mayor and her chosen police commissioner, for unrelated reasons), should be useful in understanding just how poisoned the well of public opinion on public safety has become — and why — and how difficult the task for setting things right again.
Voters statewide should probably take a good look, as well. Whatever the multitude of problems facing Baltimore, they are hardly unique. It’s instructive to note that the recent uptick of carjackings, for example, wasn’t limited to the city. Indeed, statistically, Baltimore County has fared worse. And the too-easy availability of guns — from AR-15 assault rifles, the preferred weapon of mass shooters like the one in Texas, to the untraceable “ghost” guns that are increasingly the weapon of choice for criminals — is a national disgrace.
Like it or not, the solution to gun violence, as multi-faceted as it must be, requires more cooperation and less finger-pointing from elected officials — and a deeper understanding of the problem from all of us.
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Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
