New Orleans is celebrating its first gun violence-free week since the start of 2021.

The City of New Orleans has just experienced its first week since Hurricane Ida in 2021 without a single recorded shooting or killing. This marks the longest span of time this year without any gun violence in the Big Easy.

Michael Hecht, the organizer of the NOLA Coalition, a group of 500 civic organizations that formed to combat the city's crime wave in 2022, spoke to Nola.com about this milestone. He said, “We hope this is the result of NOPD tactics like the proactive removal of guns from the street, combined with an organic ebb in violence, and that it will continue as a long-term trend.”

The Labor Day Weekend marked the first holiday celebrated in New Orleans without any shooting or killings. In stark contrast, the combined days of Fourth of July, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Fat Tuesday, and Easter Sunday saw nine people killed and nine more injured by gunfire. This reduction in violence is in line with the national trend of decreasing violent crime across the country.

The city's policymakers have implemented a range of tactics, from tried-and-true methods to outside-the-box thinking, to combat gun violence. This includes pre-hospital blood transfusions, expanded Ceasefire/Violence Interrupter Programs, gun lock giveaways, and the launch of a civilian department to assist the New Orleans Police Department.

Mayor LeToya Cantrell has praised the Mobile Crisis Intervention Unit, which was created to help 911 callers who don't need a first response team. She said, “This program is lifting the burden of the New Orleans Police Department so our officers are not having to respond to calls where they are not needed.”

Although the recent decline in gun violence is a cause for celebration, it's still too early to tell whether the recent efforts by policymakers have been the cause of this change. Nevertheless, as Hecht said, any decrease in violence is a reason to be hopeful.

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