There was a shooting in Grand Haven yesterday. Reports are, it was a suicide attempt. As coincidences go, I happened to come across an interactive website on gun violence in the US. It tracks shootings with injuries or death, regardless of if the incidents are police related, accidental or intentional. The sub headline for the article I read stated, “no community is immune”.
https://www.thetrace.org/features/gun-violence-interactive-shootings-map/
I searched for the Grand Haven area. For the past five years … zero incidents.
Seemed improbable to me. The area is small, but not that small. Lots of guns. No injuries. Not even someone cleaning a weapon with accidental discharge. So I asked the local social media historians “…yes if I recall correctly the last shooting in GH was in 2009 …2 men from Muskegon robbed a jewelry store right downtown and killed a good man…”
Almost 10 years between shootings. Maybe Grand Haven is not immune, but extraordinarily close. I searched the website for every community I have ever lived in. What about a place where most everyone owns at least one gun? The Le Mars, Iowa area, where I went to high school had two shootings with injuries over the past five years… both accidental. Then there were the places like Fort Wayne, Indiana
Even adjusting for the higher population in Fort Wayne… a shocking difference.
Grand Haven = safe haven. Why? Not because of gun laws or low gun ownership. I suspect it is because of a happy, friendly community with responsible adults raising responsible children.