Gun Violence In Atlanta Often Result Of Disputes: Police

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Police Department has taken to social media to address gun violence and the part that disputes play in spurring gunfire.

The statement, released Wednesday on the APD Facebook page, identified that of the more than 600 people shot in Atlanta this year, between 60 and 80 percent of the victims were shot by someone they knew to some degree. The statement expressed a viewpoint from police questioning the choices of some gun violence suspects and led to the call for gun owners or people in the city with access to guns to assess how they deal with conflict.

“If shooting someone when you are angry is your natural reaction to conflict, you are part of our problem and are a direct contributor to the rise in violent crime,” the statement said. “We are perplexed at how many people are willing to throw away their lives, abandon their families, or destroy another person’s life over an argument, disagreement, or petty violation.”

This is the second letter this month from Atlanta Police expressing a specific opinion. Early August, police leadership released to the media a letter defending the department’s record in the wake of accusations from the Buckhead City Committee, the coalition looking to secede Buckhead from Atlanta because of crime and other concerns.

The memo was released as state legislators with the House Public Safety Committee heard testimony from experts who said many factors contributed to the spike in crime, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“There’s no one cause that causes a surge in crime rates,” said Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia executive director Pete Skandalakis said.

And Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant cautioned that making arrests was not enough to tamp down crime, however.

“We must all be mindful that we will not be able to police our way out of this. We will not be able to lock up enough folks, regardless of how many police officers we have,” Bryant said.

The statement released Wednesday warned gun owners against leaving their weapons in unattended vehicles, saying that more than 1,300 guns have been stolen from vehicles to date.

“Stolen guns in the hands of the criminally minded, provides more access to commit more crimes,” the statement said.

The statement also pointed to the percentage of shooters acquainted with their alleged victim and drew a final conclusion.

“We see acquaintances, family members and friends making the choice to use a gun to settle disputes,” the statement read. “These statistics tell us that far too many people have limited conflict resolution skills, do not value life, and are not fit to be gun owners.

“When people decide to make better choices in disputes and take responsibility for management of their anger, gun-related violent crimes will go down.”