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Welcome to another rightwing shithole state!

Red State citizens live in violence and squalor, another rightwing
leadership failure. At least their using their guns as the Framers
intended.


A Navy base put up a wall to ward off stray bullets. Locals say that's not enough to solve gun violence. Gulfport, Mississippi, has a far lower
homicide rate than Jackson. But some neighborhoods have seen frequent
gunfire, and residents say it takes a toll.



June 18, 2023, 8:00 AM EDT
By Bracey Harris

More than 20 shipping containers line the south side of a Navy base in Gulfport, Mississippi. They’re not there to transport goods, but instead
stand as a silent marker of the gun violence afflicting the state’s second-largest city.

The hulking boxes were put in place last fall, after gunfire at a
subsidized apartment complex across the street damaged five homes inside
the Naval Construction Battalion Center; no one was hurt. The base
responded by increasing patrols around its perimeter and making one of the
most fortified areas of Gulfport even more so.

“The optics of that are very bad,” said John Whitfield, a pastor and the
CEO of Climb CDC, a nearby nonprofit focusing on workforce development.
“The practicality of it, I understand.”

A spokesperson at the base said the barrier is meant to be a “temporary solution” and that the city had offered assurances that it was addressing
the gun violence issue. Still, the Navy is considering building a
permanent concrete wall.

“The force protection of our base, personnel, and families is our highest priority,” Becky Shaw, the spokesperson, said in an email.

The shipping containers are just one indicator of the grinding toll of
gunfire afflicting parts of Gulfport, a vibrant beach town of about 72,000
on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

Residents and workers in the city’s most impoverished areas detailed the recurring snap of gunshots, incidents in which apartments have been struck
by stray rounds, and the increasing frustration of the young and old alike having to scramble for cover when someone opens fire. They also described
the dual tragedies of teens losing their lives at the hands of their
peers, who end up facing lengthy sentences in prison. Pastor John
Whitfield at Morning Star Baptist Church in Gulfport, Miss. John
Whitfield, the pastor at Morning Star Baptist Church in Gulfport, said he grieves "every time I hear of a shooting."L. Kasimu Harris for NBC News

A decade ago, Gulfport, where more than half of residents are white and
nearly 40% are Black, reported two or three homicides a year. Since 2019,
there have been at least 10 killings per year.

In a city where about 26% of residents live in poverty, many see a link
between economic hardship and gun violence.

“Some of our children and some of your young people are just helpless and hopeless,” said Sonya Williams Barnes, a former legislator who lives in Gulfport and is the Mississippi state policy director for the Southern
Poverty Law Center.

Gulfport is three hours south of Jackson, the capital, where the homicide
rate is more than six times higher than in Gulfport. But while Jackson has
had a more visible struggle with public safety, residents and community
leaders in this coastal town say they, too, have grappled with gun
violence for years.

Late Thursday evening, two people were injured in a shooting at a birthday party a few blocks from the Navy base's shipping containers, and shortly afterward a 20-year-old man was shot and killed in a separate incident
nearby.

On April 30, a pregnant 16-year-old, JaKamori Lake, was shot and killed in another part of Gulfport; police charged a 15-year-old in her death. A few
days earlier, Gulfport police arrested a seventh suspect from a New Year’s
Eve 2021 shooting that left four people dead.

“It may not be as bad as Jackson, it may not be as bad as Memphis,
Tennessee, but we’ve got that problem,” said Louis Gholar, president of
the West Gulfport Civic Club, who helped organize an upcoming community
meeting about violence prevention. “I think not just in Gulfport — the
whole coast has that problem.”

In April, five people were injured in a shooting during the popular Black Spring Break event in Biloxi. Two weeks later, a 19-year-old gunman in Bay
St. Louis allegedly shot and killed two teenagers and injured four others
at an after-prom party. And in May, a shooting during a Cinco de Mayo
party at an Ocean Springs bar left a 19-year-old dead and six others
wounded.

Tia Mosley, whose 17-year-old son, Caleb, was killed two years ago in a drive-by shooting in Gulfport, said that every time she opens Facebook and
sees more news of local violence, anxiety washes over her.

“It makes me not want my daughter to go outside at all,” she said of her 11-year-old. “All you can do is pray.” Tia Mosley with her daughter.
Mosley's 17-year-old son Caleb was killed two years ago in a drive-by
shooting. Tia Mosley with her daughter, Aubrey. Mosley's 17-year-old son, Caleb, was killed two years ago in a drive-by shooting.L. Kasimu Harris
for NBC News

Gholar is troubled that many of the victims and suspects in Gulfport in
recent years have been teens. Last October, a Gulfport police officer shot
and killed a 15-year-old who officials say was armed; a grand jury
declined to indict the officer.

“We’re losing our young people too fast, too quick,” Gholar said. “They
don’t even get a chance to live.”

Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes, a Republican who is in his third term, agrees
that gun violence is a concern. In some cases, issues arise when apartment complexes lack adequate security, his staff said. The mayor’s office also mentioned boys and girls club programs for at-risk youth and said churches
have stepped up to offer support.

But the mayor believes the solution is more a matter of personal
responsibility — parents keeping a closer eye on their teenagers and intervening if they discover guns.

“That’s where I think we start having problems, when we rely on government
to solve everything,” he said. “Quite frankly, what I’ve seen and
experienced and believe is that it starts at home.” The William Bell
apartment complex in Gulfport, Miss. The William Bell apartment complex
where shootings have broken out in recent years is in a census tract where
42 % of the population lives in poverty.L. Kasimu Harris for NBC News

In Gaston Point, a historically Black middle-class neighborhood in
Gulfport, some say that’s just part of the picture.

Martha Lockhart-Mais, a retired schoolteacher, said it’s also a question
of how parents are supported in caring for their children. Teens need
somewhere safe to go after school, she said.

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