Tina Ford drew inspiration from tragedy.

On April 26, 2019, her 23-year-old son, Armani, was gunned down in their Clairton hometown. He had been a star quarterback who led Clairton High School’s football team through a 63-game winning streak and four straight state championships.

In the five years that followed, Ford shared Armani’s story as often as she could. She also comforted other mothers whose mourning has become part of America’s gun violence narrative.

“I have my village; that village is important,” said Ford, who today heads the group Mothers of Murdered Sons. “Now, I’m walking in someone else’s shoes. And I’m here to help them tie their shoes.”

Ford was among a throng of activists, politicians and nonprofit leaders who filled the PNC Champions Club conference room at Acrisure Stadium on Friday morning to talk about how gun violence has changed the trajectory of their lives. They also talked about how to continue fighting it.

Two White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention administrators emceed the event.

In 1990, there were 100 million guns in the U.S., according to Greg Jackson, the deputy co-director of that office. Today, that number tops 400 million. Nearly 55% of Americans know someone who has been shot or killed by a gun.

“This is an American problem, this is an American crisis, this is a public-health crisis,” Jackson said.

Seeing results

President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan has funneled more than $15 billion into public safety and violence prevention programs in cities, towns and counties nationwide, Jackson said.

Jackson said he came to Pittsburgh this week to learn.

Gun violence didn’t abate during the covid-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania’s second-largest city.

In 2021, 226 people were shot, 56 of them fatally, police data show. There were 71 homicides in 2022. That number fell to 52 last year.

“What happened? A lack of social control happened,” said Pittsburgh police Chief Larry Scirotto, who spoke on a panel Friday. “What that offered was a cloak of anonymity, of protection, to those who wanted to create violence.”

But, that storyline has started to change, several leaders said.

Representatives from the group CeaseFirePA, which co-hosted Friday’s event, said government investment helped swing the pendulum in the opposite direction.

Since 2021, the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency has invested $26.4 million in violence intervention programs in Allegheny County alone.

“We have a long way to go, and I don’t want to diminish that,” said Adam Gerber, the Philadelphia-based executive director of CeaseFirePA’s education fund. “But, we’ve made tremendous progress.”

This year, the numbers have continued to drop, Scirotto said Friday. There have been 25 homicides in Pittsburgh in the first eight months of this year, compared with 29 at this time in 2023. Over the past two years, there’s been a 41% drop in the number of fatal and non-fatal shootings.

“This is a problem that’s not going to go away any time soon, but we’re seeing results,” said Dexter Hairston, executive director of The Kingsley Association, a Larimer-based group whose community services include after-school programs and adult education.

“What we’ve realized is we can’t do it all alone,” Hairston said.

Charlie Batch’s story

Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch said collaboration with elected leaders like Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who also spoke Friday, has helped him grow his Best of the Batch Foundation.

In 1999, Batch started a basketball team in a 5,000-square-foot building in Homestead. Today, his foundation’s educational programming and community services reach nearly 4,000 children a year in eight western Pennsylvania counties. Its headquarters, on Homestead’s West Street, has expanded to 33,000 square feet.

Batch riveted Friday’s audience, however, by sharing the personal story behind his philanthropic work.

In 1996, Batch’s sister, Danyl, was an innocent bystander killed when she got caught in a gunfight between two rival gangs, Batch said. The man with Danyl used the 17-year-old girl as a human shield.

Three years later, Batch formed his foundation in her memory.

“Every week, every month, there’s always a reminder of why we continue to do what we do,” Batch said Friday.

“I’m just here to tell my story,” he said. “We’re excited about what the next 25 years will bring.”

Ed Gainey’s story

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Friday briefly talked policy, asking the audience to pressure Congress to repeal a 2005 law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

That law, Gainey said, shields gun manufacturers from lawsuits related to the criminal or unlawful misuse of their products.

Gainey also shared his own gun-violence story during an animated speech introducing U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale.

Gainey’s sister, Janese Talton-Jackson, was fatally shot outside a Homewood bar on Jan. 22, 2016.

Talton-Jackson refused the advances of a man at the bar. They exchanged words. The man followed her outside and shot her in the chest. She was 29.

“That was the first time I ever saw a body put in a body bag,” Gainey said. “When you see that, it changes how you see gun violence.”

A year later, a judge sentenced the shooter to 20 to 40 years in prison.

Lee, speaking with rapid-fire delivery, said the prevalence of guns is part of the problem.

Guns have killed 170 children in Pittsburgh since Lee first ran for political office in 2018, she said. Throughout Allegheny County from 2019 to 2021, guns were used in 86% of homicides, according to the congresswoman.

“Fighting gun violence, though, isn’t just about policies — it’s about a culture shift,” Lee said. “Safety isn’t the absence of violence, it’s the presence of justice.”

“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made,” she added. “But, I will keep fighting.”

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