KC mayor named ‘lawmaker of the year’ by national gun violence prevention organization

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has been named the national Gun Sense Lawmaker of the Year by Everytown for Gun Safety.

Lucas has advocated for gun safety reforms in part through his work as the co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of current and former U.S. mayors working with Everytown to advocate for reform and violence prevention.

This past week, Lucas condemned the largest gun manufacturers, calling on them to be held accountable for the illegal firearms streaming into Kansas City. More than 70% of the guns connected to violent crime in 2021 were produced by 15 manufacturers, according to an analysis by the Kansas City Police Department.

“We are tired of reacting to legislatures that aren’t willing to do the work to stop gun violence,” Lucas said Friday after a summit held by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. “We are tired of waiting for Congress. We are tired of looking for solutions, whether they be in Washington or our state capitols.”

Kansas City has joined other cities in suing gun manufacturers for violating state or federal laws. A 2020 lawsuit led the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to revoke the license of a gun manufacturer previously known as Jimenez Arms.

“To hold bad actors in the gun industry accountable, Kansas City became the first city in more than ten years to sue a gun manufacturer,” Carthesa Dillard Hutson, of Independence, said during Gun Sense University 2022, the event at which Lucas was recognized on Sunday.

Her 19-year-old son, Christopher Hutson Jr., was fatally shot in May 2017 while driving back from an ultrasound appointment with his pregnant girlfriend. Dillard Hutson’s brother was killed in an accidental shooting three years earlier.

Kansas City in recent years broke grim records for homicides.

In 2021, the city suffered the second-highest number of homicides in its history with 157 deaths; that same year, more than 630 people were shot but lived. Kansas City’s deadliest year came in 2020, when there were 182 killings. So far this year, the city has suffered 90 homicides, according to data kept by The Star, which includes killings by police.

Lucas recently visited the capital to celebrate the signing of the Safer Communities Act, a bipartisan measure that marks the most significant attempt by federal lawmakers to address the issue in nearly 30 years.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Democratic Georgia state Sen. Michelle Au received the federal version of the award. Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia received the Inaugural Demand a Seat Lawmaker of the Year Award.

The announcements were part of the organization’s Gun Sense University, an annual training ground for leaders in the gun violence prevention movement.

“The grassroots gun violence prevention movement is stronger than ever and as a result we’ve seen incredible progress at every level of government in passing life saving laws and innovative new policies to address our gun violence epidemic,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said in a news release.