Lt, Governor Garlin Gilchrist learned about the consequences of gun violence and guns being in the wrong hands at a young age.
“When I was in middle school, sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade, every year I had a classmate who lost a younger sibling to a gun accident that was the result of an unsecured firearm in the home,” Gilchrist said. “A gun not being on the street is a person not dying or a person not being hurt.”
Gilchrist was at Clinton Township Police Department headquarters Thursday morning to give an update on the state’s Operation Safe Neighborhoods program, which focuses on getting guns out of the hands of people who cannot legally own one due to prior criminal history.
Since the program’s inception in August of 2022, more than 660 illegal firearms have been collected and subsequently destroyed.
While that might not seem like a lot, Gilchrist said Operation Safer Neighborhoods is one piece of the complex puzzle to curb gun violence in the state. State leaders have been actively mandating safe gun storage and background checks for gun buyers.
“What the challenge is is thinking about what are the things we have at our disposal that we can do to reduce gun violence, to reduce the conditions that lead to gun violence, and also to make sure that people who shouldn’t have guns don’t have them,” said Gilchrist. “This Operation Safer Neighborhoods program has been part of a larger effort and it has been successful so we want to highlight that.”
Michigan Department of Corrections Deputy Director Russ Marlin oversees 105 probation offices across the state and the supervision of 40,000 people who are either on probation or parole.
To date, his department has completed more than 6,100 compliance checks in partnership with local law enforcement around Michigan.
“Our mission is to create a safer Michigan by holding the people that we supervise accountable and also promoting their success,” said Marlin. “We administer a risk assessment to everyone we supervise that identifies criminal risk, risk to reoffend, risk to engage in violence and shows their criminogenic needs.”
MDOC resources are focused on mitigating the risks for those on parole or probation, getting them treatment, helping them find employment, transportation, housing, and necessary documentation. When people are set up for success, Marlin said, the chance for them to commit another crime is greatly reduced which makes the overall community safer.
“Our recidivism rate in Michigan is the lowest it has been ever in the history of our state and we are one of the top states in the nation as well,” said Marlin. “However, sometimes not everyone is ready to change and this is where this part of supervision and Operation Safe Neighborhoods comes into play.”
Gilchrist recognizes gun violence can take many forms including accidental shooting and someone choosing to end their own life through use of a firearm. Operation Safe Neighborhoods, he said, targets guns in the hands of people who are not allowed to have them, which is an important part of the equation.
“This program is specific in terms of the tools at our disposal,” said Gilchrist. “There is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done, and we recognize that.”