Bring up the issue of gun control measures and tightly-held opinions start to fly.

Some insist any move to restrict gun purchases is a move to “take away my guns” and a violation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

Others insist restrictions must be put in place and enforced to help stop the bloodshed.

And the monetary costs grow: Direct costs in Georgia from gun violence is over $2.8 billion each year, with both direct and indirect costs hitting almost $8 billion, according to the Giffords Law Center. The estimates were adjusted to 2016 dollars.

Local resolution

This summer’s slew of mass shootings, that totaled 12 just from May to August, pushed Savannah’s elected leaders to a tipping point. They put aside any rhetoric and took an official stand on the subject, passing a resolution urging state and federal representatives to take steps that may help keep guns out of the hands of those with ill intent.

The resolution asked for universal background checks, banning assault-style weapons, red-flag laws, and limiting magazine rounds.

The mayor and aldermen understand their resolution is not legally binding on the state or federal government, but like many other cities have done recently, it was time to let their opinions be known.

“We have to start somewhere,” Mayor Eddie DeLoach said when the resolution passed in council.

Most of the requests in the resolution may not have a major impact on local gun crimes, Aldermen Tony Thomas previously said.

“Most of what we see is from illegal guns,” Thomas said in September.

Illegal guns on the streets, no matter where they come from, present real trouble for Savannah.

Gun problem in Savannah

Savannah Police Chief Roy Minter said he wouldn’t address possible legislation, but said that the city does have “a gun problem.”

From January of 2009 to Aug. 31 of this year, Savannah police report a total of 283 homicides where a gun was the weapon used. Of those 283 deaths, 18 of the homicides are family-related.

Aggravated assaults with a gun through Oct. 12 of this year total 260. The total for 2018 was 197 and for 2017 aggravated assaults with a gun totaled 207, according to Savannah Police Department records.

One issue in many of the gun-related crimes, Minter said, is access.

“Easy access is a problem,” Minter said. “We’re having about 100 weapons stolen from unlocked vehicles every year.”

Minter said the city needs gun owners to be more responsible.

“We want people to make sure their gun is safe and secure.”

Crime scenes in Savannah where weapons are found usually involve semi-automatic handguns, Minter said.

Minter said the department is working hard to arrest convicted felons with firearms.

“We will not tolerate it,” Minter said. “We treat that very seriously and are pushing those to the federal level because the sentencing guidelines are tougher.”

Minter noted that any crime committed with a gun will also “not be tolerated.”

“We are serious and will prosecute to the highest level,” Minter said.

Minter said the department is also beginning to look at where guns in the community are actually coming from through tracing. Minter said information is not yet available.

“We are just starting to get a handle on that, some of the traces take time,” Minter said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms performs weapons tracing for law enforcement.

The ATF reports that 16,058 firearms were recovered and traced in Georgia in 2018. Firearms recovered by the ATF in Georgia for 2018 totaled 783. Only Atlanta had more, recovering 2,661 guns. The average age of those who possessed the recovered and traced weapons in Georgia is 33. The national average age is 35.

Accidental discharge of guns

Intentional gun violence isn’t the only way people are hurt, of course.

The Georgia Department of Health reports that from 2009 to 2017, there were 568 emergency room visits for accidental discharge of a gun by residents of Chatham County.

The Department of Health also reports that firearms were the most common method for suicide in Georgia, accounting for 70% of total suicides from 1999 to 2001, while hanging or suffocation accounted for 14% and poisoning accounted for 12% of suicides.

Overall, the Giffords Law Center reports that guns are only used in 5% of suicide attempts, but due to the lethality of guns, when they are used the suicide attempts become suicide deaths over half of the time. The Giffords Law Center began in 1993 as the Americans for Responsible Solutions, co-founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly. They later merged with the Legal Community Against Violence, a group formed by attorneys following a 1993 shooting in San Francisco, California, that left eight dead and six wounded. The center provides data, information, research and statistics on gun violence from many sources, including the Centers for Disease Control, the FBI, along with other federal and state sources.

While so far Savannah has not dealt with a mass shooting on the scale of a Las Vegas, or dozens of other towns, the Hostess City has had more than her share of grief from gun violence.

At times it can seem as if each day brings word of another shooting in Savannah.

Cost of gun violence

The majority of people may not have to deal with the grief of losing someone to a gun death, or be facing a future in a wheelchair from a gunshot; however taxpayers all deal with the costs.

It’s one aspect of gun violence not often discussed — the money.

According to the Giffords Center, direct costs include $143 million per year in health care costs, $235 million per year in law enforcement and criminal justice expenses, $17 million in costs to employers each year and $2.4 billion annually in lost income. Indirect costs costs include $5.1 billion in pain and suffering.

A majority of the costs are paid by taxpayers, with up to 85% of Georgia’s gunshot victims being either uninsured or on some type of publicly funded insurance, according to Giffords Law Center. Also, law enforcement costs are paid for in full by taxpayers. Based on 2018 population estimates, the total cost each year directly to Georgia taxpayers is over $557 million — about $53,000 for every man, woman and child in the state.

Nationally the annual cost to American taxpayers from gun violence is $229 billion.

Nationwide 36,383 are killed with guns each year. Of that number, 22,274 are suicides, 12,830 are homicides, 496 are law enforcement shootings and 487 are unintentional shootings, per Giffords Law Center.

Georgia gun laws: a primer

Definitions

• Mass shooting: A shooting where a minimum of four people are shot, not including the gunman.



• Assault-style weapon: Military style semi-automatic weapon. A favorite of mass shooters.



• Large capacity magazines: definitions vary, but generally a magazine that can hold 10 rounds or more is considered large capacity. In the 2019 Dayton, Ohio, mass shooting the shooter used a drum magazine that held 100 rounds. He killed nine and wounded 26 others in less than 30 seconds.

Federal gun laws

• Federally licensed gun dealers are required to conduct background checks on gun purchasers through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Unlicensed private sales do not have the background check requirement.

• Convicted felons and severely mentally ill patients are not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition. Also excluded are people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors and some domestic abusers subject to protective orders.

• Background checks that can't be completed in three days allow the firearm purchase to proceed

Loopholes

• Stalkers, abusive dating partners and those on the terrorist watchlist are not covered by the background check requirements.

• There is no federal gun trafficking statute, despite the requirement that gun importers and manufacturers must maintain records of sales and make sure guns have serial numbers. The government can't centralize listings of firearm sales, so the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' ability to accurately trace some weapons is hampered. Gun manufacturers, dealers and importers are required to report stolen guns. There is no federal requirement to report stolen guns by individuals not part of the industry.

• Ammunition sellers are unregulated and do not have to keep records of sales.

Georgia gun laws

• Georgia scored an "F" from the Giffords Law Center for the state's gun laws.

• Georgia requires handgun dealers and employees of handgun dealers to obtain a state license.

Georgia does not:

• Require a background check prior to the transfer of a firearm between private parties;

• Prohibit the transfer or possession of assault weapons, 50 caliber rifles, or large capacity ammunition magazines;

• Limit the number of firearms that may be purchased at one time;

• Impose a waiting period on firearm purchases;

• Regulate unsafe handguns (“junk guns” or “Saturday night specials”);

• Regulate ammunition sales;

• Allow local governments to regulate firearms, or

• Provide local governments with the discretion to deny concealed weapons permits.

In 2017, Georgia had the 19th highest gun death rate among the states. Georgia also supplied crime guns to other states at the tenth highest rate among the states. Georgia exported crime guns at more than twice the national rate and nearly twice the rate at which it imported crime guns from other states.

Source: Giffords Law Center