McComb city leaders met Monday evening for the second of three town hall meetings focused on reducing gun violence.
McComb Mayor Quordiniah Lockley, McComb Police Chief Juan Cloy, Selectwoman at Large Tabitha Isaac and Ward 4 Selectman Eddie Thompson participated in the discussion.
“We are constantly reading and seeing young Black men shooting or killing one another,” Lockley said. “We, as a community, and I want to be clear, I am talking about the Black community, when we talk about gun violence, it’s happening in our Black communities.”
Lockley said he singled out the three locations where the town hall meetings have been scheduled. The first meeting was held at the McComb Sports Park, while Monday night’s meeting was at the Alpha Center in Baertown.
A final gathering at 6 p.m. Thursday will be held at the Martin Luther King Center in Burglund.
“The question I have asked and am still asking is when we, as a community, are going to say enough is enough and we mean it?” Lockley said.
Lockley spoke to just over 15 residents in attendance, which was a slight uptick compared to the first meeting, which less than 10 residents attended.
Lockley noted that during the first meeting, a resident said neighborhoods need more of a police presence. However, the mayor said that when police increased patrols, residents complained.
Lockley said there are over 40 cameras in locations throughout the city to help keep an eye on criminal activity.
“We are doing some things to address the gun violence in the city, but we have not done a good job of letting the citizens know what we have done in the City of McComb,” he said.
Lockley said he hopes to unite the religious community, local governments, law enforcement agencies, schools and social groups to organize a plan to address the problem.
“We blame absentee fathers, schools, churches, police and government for not doing their jobs,” Lockley said. “It is easy to play the blame game, but I want to talk about solutions.”
Cloy reiterated his observations about gun violence, saying firearms are too easy to obtain and end up in the wrong hands far too often.
“We can’t stop or slow down our efforts to educate young people and individuals that don’t know what we run into daily,” he said.
Cloy said residents with information about people who have illegal firearms or who they suspect is committing crimes can download and use the Tip411 app anonymously.
“You just put ‘McComb Police’ in your app store and Tip411 should pop up. Download that and you can give tips anonymously,” he said.
Cloy also addressed the issue of residents not speaking out when they see something that alarms them.
He said gun violence has left a scar on the city and affected how residents live in it.
“You can’t be so afraid of dying that you forget to live,” he said. “A few bad actors have terrified an entire city.”
Thompson, whose ward includes the Alpha Center and Baertown, shared his thoughts based on what he sees.
“I stopped and talked with some young people who toted guns and they told me that they are trying to protect their area,” he said. “The guns seem fairly easy to get, whether they steal them or buy them, my question is, where are they able to get the bullets?”
He stated he “caught the blues” trying to get ammunition just to hunt with.
“I think that is another layer to the problem,” Thompson said.
