March celebrates no shootings

(Editor's note: I have been too busy with tours and Allstate to do things like attend this celebration. 19th Street is now so safe even the Mayor showed up to be photographed with the people. Thankfully, Rob Bennet was there as well, filling the gap left by me being busy and the Gazette continuing its slow death spiral.)

By Rob Bennet

Robshots

On Monday, SNUG Niagara Falls hosted a Peace Walk to mark an important milestone for the City of Niagara Falls, and all those engaged in reducing and/or eliminating gun violence in the city.

Officials report that there hasn't been a gun-related homicide in the City of Niagara Falls, NY in two years. A start, and a trend that city and law enforcement officials, as well as many anti-gun violence groups, like SNUG, hope continues.

This can be attributed to a number of things including the outreach work being done by members at SNUG Niagara Falls, targeted crime hotspot patrols by Niagara Falls Police Department and other law enforcement partners, and the New York State's Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative.

The Peace Walk was held along the 19th Street corridor, which has long been characterized as a crime hotspot by crime data statistics, in particular gun-related crime. Members of SNUG were joined by city leaders, community members, and members of law enforcement on the walk to celebrate the work of many.

SNUG is a "gun violence reduction initiative established in New York State in 2009. The program seeks to engage high-risk individuals causing violence in communities, address the issues that may be causing high-risk individuals to engage in gun violence, and share with the community how violence is spread."