The hustle and bustle of the Five Points South neighborhood belies its recent history, including a mass shooting in which four people were killed in September.

But businesses in Birmingham have felt the ripple effects of gun violence. Following the mass shooting at Hush Hookah/Cigar Lounge, several businesses, including Hush and Sleek Sports Bar, have closed their doors and new businesses have moved in to the Five Points South area.

Lindsay Garrett, a Birmingham native and marketing director for Opulence Drag Lounge & Taqueria in Five Points South, which moved into Hush’s old location, said they aim to distance themselves from the tragic event that took place last year.

“People who are here are creating something (that has) nothing to do with what occurred here previously,” she said. “Violence happens all over the city, all over the state, no matter what community you’re in, whether it be Black, white, LGBTQ or otherwise, there is violence happening in all aspects of the city. So we’re trying not to focus on that,” she said.

The shooting helped lead to the passage of the first state law restricting firearms in about 15 years. In March, Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 116, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road. The law imposes a state ban on “Glock switches,” or devices that turn semi-automatic handguns like pistols into fully automatic weapons, which were used in September’s shooting.

Gun violence is a problem throughout the nation. Last year, the John Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions reported firearms remain the leading cause of death in children and teens with Black youth being some of the most affected by gun violence.

“In 2022, in the 1 to 17 age group, Black children and teens had a gun death rate 18 times higher than that of white children in the same age group. The gun homicide rate among Black children and teens rose 5.6 percent from 2021 to 2022,” The report said.

Glock switches have been used throughout Alabama, which has the fourth-highest rate of death from firearms in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Birmingham has suffered significantly from gun violence, and crime is a major issue in elections this year. The Birmingham Police Department reported 151 homicides in 2024, a rate of about 76.9 homicides per 100,000 people in the city.

By comparison, Huntsville, a city with about 35,000 more residents, reported 18 homicides in 2024, a rate of 7.8 per 100,000. Mobile reported 37 homicides, a rate of 18.3 per 100,000, and Montgomery reported 61, or 31.2 per 100,000.

This year through the end of June, Birmingham has reported 37 homicides, which is a reduction from this time last year of more than 51%.

Mayor Randall Woodfin, who is seeking reelection this year, has been advocating against reducing gun violence in Birmingham.

“I care about decreasing gun violence in our city. I care about decreasing crime, I care about saving lives,” he said in a 30-minute video in November.

A commission appointed by the mayor also issued a 66-page report in January detailing plans to reduce gun violence and homicides. The plan included immediate actions to take including:

• Focused deterrence, a strategy targeting high-risk individuals and groups through a combination of enforcement, accountability and social support.
• Community violence intervention, which would expand street outreach and hospital-based violence intervention programs to disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation.
• Shooting reviews to provide ongoing analysis of violent incidents to identify patterns, prevent retaliation, and guide future interventions.
• Focus on hotspots, designed to address concentrated areas of violence in the community through strategies ranging from additional policing to blight reduction and neighborhood revitalization.

Woodfin has said the city has made substantial progress on several of those fronts.

Crime remains one of the focal issues in the mayor’s race. U.S. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, kicked off the political season on New Year’s Day with her announcement for the office and pledge to focus on community safety.

Mayoral candidate Brian K. Rice said in a statement in response to questions that he favors crime prevention as the first step to keep Iron City residents out of incarceration.

“My primary focus is on crime prevention, enabling us to enhance both the mind and the built environment,” the statement said. “Every day we fail to improve the built environment and improve the minds of our most challenged, where hurt and trauma rule, then we are preparing for more convictions. We must alter the destructive path before the next law is broken. I am committed to routing resources as the budget allows to protect the public safety of all under my watch. I am concerned about the human before they breach any gun law.”

Kamau Afrika, another mayoral candidate, said the new law has come later than it should have and said now almost anyone can get a gun. Afrika said that to limit gun violence, he would expand Birmingham’s city jail into the Southside area, and he would place those incarcerated into mentorship programs. An advocate for crime reduction, he said he would place youths in mentorship programs, implement a patrol force with a focus on community policing and construct athletic complexes for youth to engage.

Lashunda Scales has taken a tough on crime stance and pledged to enable police, including getting the police force up to full staffing.

Frank Woodson has said his focus would be on community building to ensure safe neighborhoods. And Jerimy Littlepage has said he wants to fight crime by helping lift up youth before they turn to crime.

Garrett said the city and the residents have different opinions on how to handle gun violence.

“I don’t see the measures that are being taken being as effective as the city would like them to be. And I do believe that there is a bit of a mismatch between what the city thinks should be done and what the community needs. And if the city itself would really speak and go into the communities and talk to the people, they would probably find more efficient and effective solutions.”

 Switch Ban One Step in Fighting Crime

There’s no rush to ban guns in Alabama. The Glock switch ban was spurred on in part by the Five Points and other mass shootings in the Birmingham area where people died under automatic fire.

Glock switches can be easily obtained and installed on firearms, said Matthew Valasik, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Alabama.

“People can or end up manufacturing these things and selling them online relatively easily. So it’s not super complicated to procure one of these items,” he said.

Glock switches are already outlawed at the federal level. But Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, who has sought a state ban on Glock switches for years, said this ban will help save lives by making it easier for local law enforcement to confiscate the devices.

“A ban will allow law enforcement to confiscate a device before it could be used, and that is a matter of saving people’s lives and preventing a horrible shooting, and particularly a mass shooting, so to have it go into effect immediately, can save lives and prevent some of the deadliest and most horrific shootings that have occurred and can occur,” Ensler said.

Ensler, who had been pushing for a similar law, said his experience as a teacher who has lost students to gun violence and an encounter with a mother made him determined to have something comparable passed.

“Legislatively, what really got me even more involved in it was, a mother in my district came up to me after a neighborhood meeting and shared the story of her son dying from a gun that had a Glock switch,” he said. “And she said that she knows that no law can bring her son back, but that if a law can help save lives moving forward, she asked that I would fight for that.”

Representatives for Slide Cafe, which is directly above Opulence, said in a statement that they support the new law and all efforts to make Alabama safer.

“At this time we are happy to express our support in efforts to make all of Alabama a safer place through the Glock switch ban,” the statement said.

Just because there is now a ban on Glock switches doesn’t mean crime in Alabama will stop.

“If you’re going to be involved in a crime, I don’t know how much it’s going to actually impact you. It might prevent people that are thinking about ordering it, obviously that may deter you if there’s some type of investigation into a person that’s selling these things and tracking who they’re selling them to, or where they’re going to, and then you’re arresting people for possessing it,” Valasik said.

Garrett also said Opulence hopes the Birmingham community will get what it needs out of the new law.

“We hope that the community gets what it needs out of the Glock switch ban. We hope that there is less violence than, specifically less gun violence, obviously. And if this is going to initiate less gun violence, I hope that’s what happens. And that the effect of that lessening of gun violence isn’t further oppression of minority communities,” she said.

This story is the result of a collaboration between BirminghamWatch and Alabama Reflector.