Again, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin came before the City Council to speak about violent crime just days after multiple shootings claimed the lives of multiple people.

And again, the mayor expressed the frustration among city leaders with the obstacles they face in prosecuting these crimes.

This time it was seven victims — including a 5-year-old boy — who were shot to death Saturday in two separate incidents in Birmingham.

“The Birmingham Police Department along with our federal partners, as I’ve stated and will continue to restate, related to what happened Saturday, I have one priority. That is to literally and physically hunt down the people responsible and bring them to justice for these heinous acts,” the mayor said, urging anyone with information to call Crimestoppers at 205-254-7777.

Woodfin told the council during its Tuesday meeting that many in the community place the blame for increased violence on the mayor and police department, but in many cases there is not a way to police destructive behavior.

“I’m not Batman. The Birmingham police aren’t Batman,” he said.

New Tip Line

Because homicide suspects are often protected by a culture of silence, the mayor said, city officials are implementing two measures that will go after criminals where they live.

Both involve a tip line, separate from Crimestoppers, in which residents can report homes with criminal activity. Woodfin said the first measure will be to work with federal agencies to bring criminal charges against offenders at the property.

“We’re comfortable at this point needing to get federal indictments to send these people down because they don’t give a damn about our community,” he said.

The other measure will involve the city using civil penalties against the owners of the properties. That could include a fine of up to $50,000 or declaring the home a nuisance property.

“What we’ve got to do is turn the heat up on everybody. Everybody gets attention,” the mayor said.

That tip line is 205-254-6450.

Woodfin Calls for Assault Weapon Ban

Woodfin added that curbing gun violence is particularly hard in a state that allows citizens to carry concealed firearms without a permit, as Alabama does.

To illustrate his point, Woodfin, along with a Birmingham police officer, showed the council a firearm often used by offenders. Called a Draco, the semi-automatic pistol looks like a shortened version of the Soviet-era AK-47.

“You can drive around with this Mini Draco and you don’t need a pistol permit,” Woodfin said, holding the weapon.

Woodfin also showed the council an AR-15-style rifle.

“This feels and looks like a military-style weapon to me,” he said.

The mayor implored federal lawmakers to enact an assault weapons ban. He said the data shows that during the Clinton-era ban, Birmingham’s gun deaths declined.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jefferson County had a firearm homicide rate of 18.9 per 100,000 in 1994, the year the Clinton-era ban passed. By 1999, that rate dropped to 11.3. The number varied between 2000 and 2004, the year the ban expired, with a high of 15.8 in 2003 and a low of 9.8 in 2004. In 2021 the rate had peaked at 29.2. It edged down to 26.9 in 2022, the latest year for which the numbers were available.

Woodfin said he supports the Second Amendment, but, he said, “As Americans, we can strike a balance and have common sense gun laws that prevent the carnage from happening not just in Birmingham but across our nation.”