North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that his administration would create an agency to help local law enforcement and public health officials reduce violence in their communities through training, model programs and assistance to access funding from the federal government and elsewhere.
At the Executive Mansion event, which was attended by gun violence prevention advocates, lawmakers and others, Cooper signed an executive order establishing the Office of Violence Prevention within the Department of Public Safety.
The new office will coordinate efforts by state and local departments to reverse notorious trends of violence. Cooper said gunshots have surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of injury deaths among children, while in 2021, children in North Carolina were 51% more likely to die from gun violence than children nationwide.
“Too many families and communities suffer the tragic injuries and deaths of murder, carelessness and suicide,” Cooper said at the event. “And whether a weapon is used or not, violence is a tragedy that must be stopped. It requires an all-hands-on-deck approach.”
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One approach could emerge from activities conducted by the One Step Further Gate City Coalition Community Violence Prevention Program in Greensboro. The program consists of volunteers who go to high-crime areas and work to spread conflict by talking to victims of crime and those who want to harm others.
It has resulted in a 30% reduction in heavy attacks in the programme’s target areas since 2019, said program manager Ingram Haizlip, himself a victim of a shooting in 2011.
“Violence prevention programs include community members who understand our community, look like our community, talk like our community, empathize with our community and love our community block by block,” Haizlip said.
An executive director will be hired for the office in the coming months, Cooper said. The Department of Public Safety is already planning a nationwide awareness campaign to begin in June on the safe storage of firearms.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper delivers his State of the State Address at a joint session of the North Carolina General Assembly on March 6, 2023 in Raleigh, NC (Travis Long/The News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Cooper, a Democrat, supports additional gun restrictions in the state law, but the Republican-controlled legislature has largely ignored such proposals from him and his allies. No legislation is required for the new office.
“Unfortunately, the General Assembly has not yet taken these steps,” said the governor. “So we need to address these challenges with the tools we have.”
Republican legislators are again coming this year with measures that would relax gun regulations.
Later on Tuesday, a House Judiciary Committee brought forward a package of proposals approved by the Senate that would remove a local sheriff’s requirement to buy a gun. It also includes a measure already passed by the House as a standalone bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to wear overtly or undergarments while attending religious services in locations where private or charter schools meet.
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Cooper successfully vetoed similar bills in 2021, but Republicans’ seat gains in November have increased the likelihood that similar vetoes could be overridden this year.