LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As volunteers with the Louisville Moms Demand Action chapter met, Sunday, the city had recorded 306 non-fatal shootings and 113 homicides, according to Louisville Metro Police.
Those figures are on par with the violent crime rate this time last year and were top of mind during conversations.
The monthly meeting is a change for discussion between those who've experienced unthinkable loss and those looking to prevent more.
"I think we're really bringing some change that is much needed," Kristal Smith, the volunteer legislative leader for the group, said.
As Shane Summer, a Moms Demand Action member, described the city's "non-stop" bouts with violence as an unfortunate, everyday part of life for Louisvillians.
In December 2021, Summer experienced it firsthand, when she lost her daughter. Shania Lee Summer, 20, was four-months pregnant at the time.
"She woke us up to say she was going to get something to eat. and when she returned back home, she returned back home to us with a gunshot in the head," Summer said.
The Summer family will mark two years without Shania at the end of this year and without closure.
"I mean, it's horrifying, that we have to continue on without our loved ones and with no justice," Summer said. "Her killer still roams free."
This month, the Moms Demand Action meeting's focus was two-fold: how guns exacerbate rates of domestic violence and suicide.
"It's heart breaking because you just never know what a person is going through," Summer said. "Some people appear one way on the outside, and they struggle with their own storms on the inside."
Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control advocacy group, estimate 718 Kentuckians die by guns every year in Kentucky, with 68% of those lost, taking their own lives.
In February, a U.S. District Court Judge struck down a Kentucky law, extending more gun rights to subjects of domestic violence.
"It's an epidemic and it's important we address this issue," Smith said. "My hope is that the state legislature starts paying more attention to this issue."
Smith is referring to the same state legislature that, in March, passed a bill that is now Kentucky law, making the commonwealth a "Second Amendment Sanctuary State."
Moms Demand Action is proposing the state general assembly enact stronger background checks and pass a "Crisis and Rights Retention Bill," putting gun controls on those looking to harm themselves or others.
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