Wharton Gun Forum Location Moved

[Pat McGarrity]

The forum will take place at 5:30 p.m. today at Breath of Life Christian Church, 3795 Frayser-Raleigh Road.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... lic-forum/

After a recent spate of high-profile violent crimes in the Raleigh-Frayser area, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton chose the neighborhood as the site of his first community meeting since he took office.

The new mayor, who has been working on a plan to reduce gun violence in the city, said he wants to talk with residents of the area about reducing crime.

"We're taking City Hall over to Raleigh and Frayser," said Wharton.

The "Community Congress" will feature citizens, law enforcement officers, business owners, faith leaders and nonprofit groups. The forum will take place at 5:30 p.m. today at Breath of Life Christian Church, 3795 Frayser-Raleigh Road.

The recent slayings of four Memphis youths have taken place within a four-square-mile area of Breath of Life Christian Church.

"The purpose of this meeting is to ignite a bottom-up, inside-out approach to addressing the epidemic of gun violence," said Wharton. "I have repeatedly described gun crime as a public health crisis, and it must be treated just as we would any disease: with containment and prevention, one person, household, block and neighborhood at a time."

Wharton said he will talk about creating a gun offender registry similar to the registry system used for sex offenders, creating a special court for gun crimes and stiffer penalties for people selling illegal guns, especially to youngsters.

"If we didn't have people supplying these guns, we wouldn't have these kids running the streets," said Wharton. "Why does a 16-year-old need an AK-47? It's just unthinkable and intolerable."

Wharton said he plans to make community meetings a staple of his administration, as he did as Shelby County mayor.

"When there are issues I need the citizens to weigh in on, the best way to do that is to go to them," said Wharton. "I couldn't govern any other way."

Wharton's predecessor, Willie Herenton, was criticized late in his tenure for being out of touch with residents.

Steve Lockwood, executive director of the Frayser Community Development Corp., said he would like to talk with Wharton about several simple steps the city could take to improve neighborhood conditions in Frayser.

Lockwood said the city could make the code enforcement office a more proactive agency instead of a complaint-based organization that reacts to citizen concerns. He also said the city could start a program to board up vacant buildings, which could prevent fires and crimes that are a drain on city resources.

"I think that in the short term there is some low-hanging fruit we can approach," said Lockwood.