Everhart pushes for gun violence prevention office in Buffalo

Buffalo Common Councilmember Zeneta Everhart introduced a resolution to create the Buffalo Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

The resolution proposes that the office be known as “The Buffalo Initiative for Safer, Organized Neighborhoods” — or BISON — and aims to provide ongoing support and resources to families affected by gun violence, implement evidence-based interventions, facilitate community engagement and collaborate with law enforcement to combat illegal firearms trafficking, according to a news release from the Common Council’s communications office.

“We need a gun violence prevention and response office in the city of Buffalo,” said Everhart, who represents the city’s Masten district. “It’s time. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I’m tired of hearing people talk about gun violence … Our community deserves better, and it has to start with government.”

Everhart is the mother of Zaire Goodman, one of three people injured in the May 2022 mass shooting at the Tops Grocery store on Jefferson Avenue, where 10 people were killed in a racist attack. She says the Buffalo office will mimic the work of the White House Office on Gun Violence Prevention, which was created in September 2023 after White House officials visited the site of the May 14 shooting in the days following the shooting.

“The City of Buffalo has obviously played a major role in this, but we have not risen to the challenge ourselves, even though May 14 happened here. So I have taken it upon myself to make sure that the City of Buffalo follows in those footsteps. We have to protect our community,” Everhart said.

The resolution comes in response to recent gun violence in Buffalo, including the shooting deaths of six teens, 14-year-old Jazzmine Fomy in May and 3-year-old Ramone Carter in June. Last month, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis in the United States. It’s important to frame it as such, according to Buffalo Center for Health Equity CEO Rev. George Nicholas.

“It takes this issue from being just a criminal justice issue to a public health issue because it’s costing about 50,000 lives a year in this country,” Nicholas said. “And it’s not just homicide,” he said. “The presence of a gun will escalate domestic violence situations to the point where they become deadly. Many of the women who are killed are killed by guns in the middle of a domestic violence situation. It also makes suicide much more common in our community.”

According to the CDC, there were more than 48,000 gun-related deaths in the United States in 2022. That’s about 132 people dying every day from a gun-related injury. More than half of gun-related deaths were suicides, and more than four in 10 were gun homicides.

Everhart’s resolution calls for the mayor’s administration to work with the city’s Common Council and City Council to create a local law to establish the new office by Dec. 31, 2024. Everhart says the city must employ a grant writer to apply for federal funds to finance the new office and its initiatives.

“There are millions and millions of dollars available to organizations right now that they can use that money to help prevent gun violence in their neighborhoods and communities. So we need someone to write those grants to get those federal dollars. Those grants aren’t going to sit there forever, right? Time is of the essence. We need that money.”