Wednesday was supposed to be a celebration, a city-wide love fest on Valentine’s Day.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered to celebrate the Chiefs’ second Superbowl in a row. We were under the spotlight. People were swag surfing, getting autographs, and generally reveling in what has become an annual celebration of all things KC.
Schools across the area closed for what was supposed to be a whimsical ‘red snow day.’ Chris Jones said he wanted to come back, Patrick Mahomes said it’d be a three-peat, Isaiah Pacheco was spotted with a baby goat wearing a Chiefs jersey, and an inebriated Travis Kelce sang an augmented country song. This should have been all there was to the story.
Then shots rang out at Union Station. Everything changed; the site of the celebration became a crime scene. A beloved local radio DJ perished, over 20 were injured, and a dozen children suffered gunshot wounds.
“This is a tragedy, the likes of which we did not expect and likely won’t forget,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas.
On an individual level, gun violence cuts short otherwise promising lives and has ripple effects, crushing the spirit of the family and friends of those affected. On a broader scale, almost nothing has the economic chilling effect of murder.
“This is not Kansas City,” said KC Police Chief Stacey Graves.
As much as we may want to believe that, no, this is who we are. Until we aren’t. The past four years have seen the highest number of gun deaths in the city. No amount of redevelopment, sports victories, or innovative art will make Kansas City a world-class city until we fix this.
I don’t claim to have the answers.
Some will say we need more police, well there were over 800 cops there. While their fast response was commendable, a mass shooting still happened.
Some will say it’s a gun issue, and indeed Missouri has some of the loosest gun laws in the country. The state legislature even went as far as to vote to allow kids to open carry without adult supervision.
Some will say it’s mental health. Yes, someone is clearly disturbed if they are bringing an assault weapon to a parade.
You will see arguments from politicians and people in your social media timelines over the next few days. We’ve seen this cycle time and again when there are mass shootings, but nothing gets done.
We have to change that. People can’t live in fear everywhere they go. Throw the kitchen sink at the problem: a good start would be to fund mental health care services and have universal background checks for gun ownership.
Those in power have to do something; kids are being shot. The city is about to go through a budget process and previously set aside $7M for violence prevention, double it, triple it, whatever it takes.
We can’t just accept this as normal.
