Gun violence might be fundamentally changing how Cleveland residents think about public gatherings, if Tuesday’s Today in Ohio discussion is indicative of widespread sentiments. Following a mass shooting in the Flats that left six people injured after a Browns home game, host Chris Quinn and panelists Leila Atassi, Laura Johnston, and Lisa Garvin shared their fears about attending crowded events.
The discussion began with Quinn contrasting today’s violence with conflicts of the past: “In the past, these kinds of fights would take place, but it was fist fights, and you might get bruises or a broken bone. But in three cases now, in what we’ve always considered relatively safe, guns come out, bullets fly everywhere.”
The podcast offered raw, personal responses to the violence. When asked how this changes her thoughts about attending crowded events, Leila Atassi didn’t hesitate: “For me, it’s a hard no, you’ll never find me downtown anymore, and you’ll never find me in crowded areas like that, where everybody’s drinking and you don’t know who has a gun.”…