Mayor Nan Whaley
101 W. 3rd Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
Dear Mayor Whaley,
I write with heartfelt condolences after the violent, arbitrary trauma inflicted on your city this past weekend. Please accept my sincere wishes for a slow, steady return to a calm, peaceful balance; please remember the passage of time can heal the most egregious wounds and restore even the most crushing soul-sickness.
As the mayor of a vibrant urban center myself, and as a former president of the African-American Mayors Association, I know first-hand the horror of gun violence and its toll on American cities. I was also a state Senator in 2012 when 27 innocent lives were taken in Connecticut at the Sandy Hook Elementary School by a man using weapons meant for war.
I have a visceral memory of the shock, disbelief, and utter despair you must be experiencing this week. No community should find itself in the crosshairs of someone’s evil intent; no jurisdiction should be held hostage by the specter of gun violence and the artificial bravado guns promote among some people.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 Connecticut was resolved to address the violence associated with this nation’s stubborn gun culture. An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of legislators enacted Public Act No.13-3: An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety (https://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/ACT/PA/2013PA-00003-R00SB-01160-PA.htm).
I send this link respectful of the calamitous loss of life and resulting state of mourning in your community. At the same time, I send it hopeful that from the bitter ashes of this tragedy a cooperative resolve will emerge in your state to address the proliferation of guns and gun violence in this nation.
Please let me know if and how the people of New Haven and I can be helpful to your city.
Sincerely,
Toni N. Harp
Mayor – City of New Haven
cc: Governor Mike DeWine
Attorney General Dave
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