As his city reels from the shooting death of a 12-year-old girl, Birmingham’s mayor called again for tougher gun laws.
“…there’s a reasonable, fair expectation that the bed is a very safe place for your child,” Mayor Randall Woodfin said at a press conference Wednesday.
Audriana Pearson, 12, was slain in a drive-by shooting while she was sleeping in her home. She was the city’s 140th homicide victim this year.
“Most families are excited about what’s to come in four days,” said Woodfin. “I think a lot of that will be around anticipation and excitement for their children being able to wake up early in the morning, in their pajamas, to be in a position to open up their gifts, to be able to celebrate and be with their family, but Audriana’s family will not necessarily have that excitement.”
The mayor said he believes tougher gun laws are needed to prevent future deaths like this in his city.
“Both of those tiers of government above municipal government have the power to do something about gun laws and gun laws in the state of Alabama,” he said.” And one is choosing to do the opposite, and the others aren’t doing anything.
“If I had the power, gun laws would be different in Birmingham than anywhere else in the state of Alabama since there’s an actual Birmingham problem, but I don’t have home rule, so I’m not given that authority.”
This is not the first time the city leader has called for stricter gun laws in response to a murder. Less than a month ago, he called for a ban on “military style and assault weapons.”
The city’s 140 homicides are one short of the record 141 killed in 1991.
An emotional Woodfin said every child should be able to feel safe in their own home.
“I’m usually able to stand up here and have all the strength to push past how I feel about the situation,” he said. “I guess this one just hits differently because it’s an innocent child … At two in the morning, there’s a reasonable, fair expectation that the bed is a very safe place for your child, that no mother expects to enter a room and see her child slumped over, with no more life in her.”
Audrianna Pearson was all set to enjoy her Christmas break. But while she slept in her bed last night, her life was robbed from her. She was the victim of a drive-by, another one of our children stolen from us due to the intentional and reckless behavior of others. pic.twitter.com/WLnkPoOU9C
— Randall Woodfin (@randallwoodfin) December 21, 2022
Birmingham city leaders are calling on anyone with more information on the shooting to call 205-254-7777.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
