LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer shared the city's legislative priorities Monday, prior to the start of the Kentucky General Assembly's 2022.
Fischer was joined by members of Metro Council as he cited enhanced public safety, local tax reform and strengthening the Civilian Review and Accountability Board, along with boosting equitable economic and land development.
Fischer is asking state legislature to help control record levels of gun violence. Louisville ended 2021 with 188 homicides while another 583 people were wounded from gunfire. He wants "commonsense" gun laws.
"This is not just a big city problem with guns," Fischer said. "Sixty-six percent of Kentucky's gun deaths are suicides, so we know that guns are a plague. Anything that we can do to make us safer from guns, while we protect the Second Amendment, it is our moral responsibility to do so."
According to a news release, Fischer hopes to see a state law amended that allows for firearms seized by law enforcement to be destroyed or removed from public circulation. Confiscated guns are currently put up for auction.
Fischer also supports a new law that would hold firearm owners to responsibly store their firearms. The city is asking legislators to aid its Group Violence Intervention (GVI) initiative.
"We know how to reduce violence on the streets of Louisville," former U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman said in a news release. "It’s not a pilot project or experiment, but a time-tested strategy that we hope to soon fully deploy here through collaboration between law enforcement, social service providers, survivors as well as the business, faith, and non-profit communities."
Fischer also called on legislatures to grant subpoena power to the new police Civilian Review Board.
The legislative agenda included road plan requests like a $21 million project to transform Ninth Street, which officials said will help connect downtown to west Louisville.
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