and we continue our special coverage this morning o
crime in America and we turn out our attention to the
midwest and Kansas city Missouri. According to FBI and
the stats, they keep that city is the second most
dangerous city in the midwest and ranks in the top 10
for gun violence. But the city recently did receive a
federal grant to help its policing and the state's
governor just signed a bill increasing the city's
Police Department's budget from 20% of revenue per year
to 25%. Joining us. Now is the mayor of Kansas city
Missouri Quinton Lucas to discuss his city's fight
against crime. Mayor, thank you so much for your time.
We appreciate you taking out the time this morning
report in the Kansas city star sites. One of your
campaign promises was to reduce the number of homicides
In Kansas City to under 100 per year, but that hasn't
happened since you've been in office for the last three
years. The number of homicides has hit triple digits
every year. So how do you explain that Why haven't yo
been able to fulfill that promise Well, very simply,
it's guns, it is the ready and available access to a
types of firearms. The lack of any restrictions in the
state of Missouri. For those who don't know the midwest,
we are not unlike texas. You have no requirement for
concealed carry permits. Therefore you have
constitutional caring folks can access assault rifles
very simply. There is little to no investigation of
illegal gun traffickers and distributors and our police
are not just overworked, but they find themselves under
risk of getting shot as well. We saw an officer buried
in the suburbs of Kansas city just yesterday after a
vehicle stopped led to his death. These are the sorts
of things and challenges that are happening in major
cities around the country and frankly, more and more
small towns, more and more incidents. And I think right
now and I agree with congresswoman maloney, we need
have a serious chat of how is it with the flood of
firearms without restrictions, without backgroun
checks being followed How is that flood of firearms
leading to more violent crime on our streets But
something you're seeing in every part of the country
and you're a big advocate of gun control, Kansas city
also became one of the first cities in a long time to
sue a gun manufacturer. So you've been very clear on on
this front, but practically speaking, you know, gun
violence is not a mayoral issue. It's a societal issue
in a lot of ways. Just for folks to understand a littl
bit about government, how would you describe, how much
control a mayor Just a mayor and his staff at city hall,
his or her staff at city hall How much they really have,
whether it's new york Kansas city or anywhere in
between. What can you really do Yeah. You know, last
week I was actually in new york, we had a press
conference at gracie Mansion with mayor Adams, The
mayors of Baltimore ST louis Tampa and a number of
other american cities. And it was interesting because I
think you caught from all of us great frustration. We
are not the district attorneys that are making
decisions on sentencing, on bail. And any number of
those challenges were certainly not the judges and
we're not the police chiefs either. Although in many
situations we certainly get to influence them instead.
What we are trying to do is actually bring resources
together. Because the oddest thing that has happened
since 2020, the protests and all of that is that I
think for a while in this country we lost sight of the
fact that we are all actually growing in the same
direction. There is no community in our country that
wants to see more deadly gun violence. There is no
community in our country that doesn't want true bad
actors off the streets and there's no community in our
country that doesn't want better trust between the
community and the police because that's how you solve
crimes. And so I think what we get to do is actually
Marshall forces together. But I'll give you one thing
yet as a church. I was talking to a lady and I said
Ma'am, I don't control that. But she said you're the
mayor, you're the mayor. If you if you can't control
something, then why should I ever care about trying to
change something. So we certainly take that position to
try to be messengers. But no, it is a frustrating time
when you've got legislatures, the United States Senate,
they're fighting against real progress. Let's talk
about the legislative side of this. Missouri ranks in
the bottom 10 for gun law strength. That's according
every town research and has the fourth highest rate of
gun deaths. Where do you see gun legislation ranking in
the upcoming midterm elections What are you doing What
are state lawmakers in Missouri doing maybe to pull
support from the republican sid of the aisle to get
something done Well, you know, I think first of all,
Missouri's laws in connection with gun control are are
totally backwards. We have a Second Amendment
Preservation Act which create m it a crime with a
fine. If our police department works with federal
agencies in anything that may relate to a second
amendment violation, how do they know who defines it
How does this avoid federal preemption Nobody knows
they just pass these laws. They're not worried about it.
So how is it that we actually look to make this an
issue. First of all, democrats largely need to keep
talking about it. If you look at any poll after you've
Aldi after Highland Park, everyone says we have very
real issues with gun violence. There is not a parent,
Republican democrat, black or white in our country who
doesn't say it is an abomination, that the leadin
cause of deaths for Children in America Relate to guns,
shooting accidents, et cetera. I mean that is
problematic. So I think you keep pushing that message
again and again and importantly rather than letting
this be an election that is defined just on gas prices
wherever they'll be at that point inflation Ukraine
Russia and I might even argue January 6 to bring up
something that I think is clear to everybody. We want
our Children, we want our families to be safe. I think
everybody recognizes a country with 400 million guns is
too many. We keep making that point and I think that's
how you can speak to suburban moderates I think have
very real concerns that in states like Texas now all
the kids have to have clear black backpacks. It'
insanity and we want to make sure our Children and our
family are safe and for one thing before we let you go,
I mean just the reality is you see the gridlock in D.C.
And you're the mayor of a blue city in a deeply red
state. So you're not gonna get much traction on this
issue from D.C. Or from your from your state
legislature. So let's bring it back into that local
control issue. You think putting some cops back on
horseback there in Kansas city will make a difference.
You talked about that recently elaborate on that a
little bit. Yeah, I mean I think we have to take every
solution. We can one of those whose visibility and
presence and so yes, I know horseback harkens back to
much deeper and sadder times, but I just want people to
know that there are actually going to be officers
around officer presence still make some level of
difference. You see officers standing around Times
Square not so much because they're gonna arrest a
shoplifter at that very moment, but because you know,
if you start shooting off that their officers there and
there, I think in every city you need some element of
that. It's, this is a all hands on deck. Every soluti
we can have type of issue because fundamentally
got to do better and I think in Kansas city ultimate
we can mayor Quinton Lucas of Kansas city Missouri. We
appreciate you coming on our show. Thank you.