Gun Violence in Portland

By Chase Calkins

Recently Oregon’s Gov, Kate Brown stated “The violence must stop”. According to Fox 12, a local news broadcasting station in Oregon,  the number of shootings in the Portland Metro area has spiked. With the rise of gun-related cases going up each year in Portland, local authorities are blaming this issue on the small number of police officers available in Portland. Back in 2019, the number of shootings involving guns was 131, but now the number is at 483 so far this year, as stated by Louis Casiano from Fox 12. In my opinion, there is something that is not working to help stop or lower these numbers. 

The people of Portland have many thoughts on what they think about all the shootings that have been going on. The leading cause of most of the shootings has been in neighborhoods mostly between multiple people who are getting into a dispute with one another. So for many people, their thoughts about all of this are definitely show the sadness and amount of people grieving.

According to KATU 2 news after asking Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt he stated that ’“For every fatal shooting, police officers, medical workers, prosecutors, and even neighbors put their safety at risk, and often their lives on hold. This takes an incredible toll.

With the number of cases rising drastically, this gives the city of Portland the perfect opportunity to take action. To start I think as a parent you need to educate your children about gun safety along with getting help for people who need it. We can hire more law enforcement to monitor the city and overall stop the shooting from happening. As a city just with the changes that I’ve listed gun violence can easily be lowered and the number of gun-related deaths to hopefully reach 0. If the city does it part in saving the lives of many people, Portland can go back to normal and thrive as its done throughout its history