Our Legislature should reconsider open-carry and the violence it may trigger

The carrying of firearms in public should never be considered a normal sight.

Florida is poised to become a more gunfriendly state next year, a notion that sends chills down my spine. Proposed legislation would allow concealed-weapon permit holders to openly carry firearms in public spaces, including airports and college campuses.

It’s almost too easy to imagine the horrific effect and consequences that such laws would have in urban communities. What, for example, would be the litmus test for law enforcement officers to determine whether someone with a holstered gun is a robber or a permit holder?

Young people have in too many instances used guns in misguided efforts to show their strength and settle scores. Scores of lives have been lost for reasons big and small: mistaken identity; someone thought that someone else was looking at them funny; one boy wants another’s sneakers — the list goes on.

The carrying of firearms in public should never be considered a normal sight and can only do more harm than good in communities that are already struggling with the heavy toll that gun violence takes. Proponents of stronger gun control measures are duty-bound to protect and prepare our youth, particularly boys of color, for the perils of an open carry world in which they are often perceived as threats.

Open carry will surely create conflict where there otherwise might not be any, exacerbate already tense situations, and create major challenges for law enforcement officers. Instead of focusing their attention on ways to engage with residents in the communities they serve, police officers will be forced into unnecessary confrontations in which they must act quickly, and their own motives may be questioned.

Instead of creating laws that will open wounds we are so desperately seeking to heal, the state Legislature would better serve its constituents by seeking answers and solutions to the questions of why gun violence is the leading cause of death among young African-American men or why kids are killing kids. They should be developing initiatives that will lead black boys to pick up books instead of guns.

Our nation cannot afford to have a whole segment of society constantly struggling on the sidelines. For that reason, I have introduced federal legislation to create a Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, which would examine the disproportionate hardships they face in areas that range from education to employment and little or no access to role models who look like them, and offer solutions to end those disparities.

Commission members would analyze homicide rates, arrest and incarceration rates, poverty, violence, fatherhood, mentorship, drug abuse, death rates, disparate income and wealth levels, school performance in various grade levels, and health issues. Employment issues, racial profiling and education disparities would be top priorities because suspensions and expulsions often push young people on a path to the criminal justice system.

The commission also would send an important message to America that the lives of black men and boys matter and the issues that so negatively impact them are a national priority. They deserve to envision and experience lives that are full of possibilities and gun-violence free.