By Sarai Murdock
CLEVELAND — Following the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia, gun laws and U.S. citizens’ access to firearms have become a major topic of discussion. In Ohio, you must be 18 to purchase a firearm and 21 to buy a handgun.
“I grew up around guns all of my life,” 19-year-old Harvey Newberry said. A traveling photographer based in Cleveland, Newberry is pro-gun. As a young child to a father who served in the military, he was educated about guns and gun safety at a young age.
“Getting educated from somebody with a military background has played a major role in my perspective today,” Newberry said. He owns a gun for protection.
“You never know what kind of situation you might get put in, especially living in Cleveland, I mean, things happen every day.”
Twenty-year-old Michelle Langston, a local model, feels the same way. While she is pro-gun, she would like to see changes in gun laws for the safety of the community. “I feel like people wouldn’t feel the need to have guns if people took mass shootings and school shootings more seriously. Or if the communities were built better and if people had housing,” she said.
Langston has been grabbed and followed while walking alone. “There are times where I’ve even been followed and if I turn the wrong corner I don’t know if something’s gonna happen. So, I feel like, if I had a gun and someone was following me, I feel a bit more confident in turning any corner.”
Miah Lewis-Kelly, an 18-year-old college freshman, has a different perspective.
“Even if you’re using a gun properly and you’re trying to inflict harm on a person for a specific reason, innocent people can be around and they can still be affected by the remnants of that,” Lewis-Kelly said. “Hearing that can be very traumatic for people. So, even mentally, I feel like they can cause harm to innocent people.” She believes gun violence can contribute to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety.
Moving to Atlanta in August to attend Spelman College as a biology major made her realize Cleveland’s effect on her.
“Seeing how others react to wanting to leave campus because they’re scared of violence, as opposed to me not really feeling scared, has definitely made me think about being a product of my environment,” Lewis-Kelly said.
Growing up in Cleveland Heights and learning about the safety concerns her high school, Cleveland Heights High School (CHHS), was having, she realized how important it is that young people in Cleveland know that they can do better and have a future ahead of them. She especially felt this way after experiencing a safety alert at her college when someone from a separate shooting attempted to hide on school grounds.
According to WKYC, there have been four incidents at CHHS so far this school year, involving students and guns, including an attempted robbery by an armed 17-year-old student.
There is a concerned with the impact of social media and guns on young men in Cleveland. Young people, in particular, young men view these incidents as humorous and looking cool.”
She believes that less accessibility to guns could create a safer environment for Cleveland. She is not alone.
Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr. became executive director of the Ohio Council of Churches in 2019. The council, founded 405 years ago, advocates for unity, justice, and peace.
“It’s about working for human rights—ensuring people can live out their God-given potential without discrimination, violence, or oppression,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan, who grew up in an African American family, was raised on East 149th Street off Kinsman in 1959. “We were hopeful for the future together, even though it was obvious we were living under segregated conditions at that time,” he said.
When he was 12 years old, Sullivan Jr.’s mother was shot by her estranged husband. Fortunately, she survived. Years later, his youngest sister was shot to death in Cleveland. These two events have influenced the way he views public policy. He would like to see stricter background checks and a total ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity weapons that would only be used to kill a large number of people at a fast rate.
After officiating a funeral for a 17-year-old boy in Cleveland shot to death a year after being baptized by Sullivan, he is concerned about the safety of young people between the ages of 18 and 30 years old.
“I get those calls on a weekly basis about people dying in my city. I pray that we find a way to change how we think about guns and gun violence in our country,” Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb said when he attended the 2023 Global Black Economic Forum at Essence Festival.
Sarai Murdock, born in New York and raised in Cleveland, is a local journalist, multi-disciplinary artist, and the young author of Bully Free Zone: “How to Stand Up for Yourself.”
