The Daily Tell

A senior minister at one Michigan church launched a new campaign asking residents of Detroit and Wayne County not to use guns during New Year’s celebrations.

This latest campaign marks the twelfth consecutive year that Rev. Nicholas Hood III, senior minister at the Plymouth United Church of Christ in Michigan, has asked county residents to abstain from a local tradition in which residents shoot of guns at 12 a.m. on New Year’s Day. It was launched through a partnership with the New Millennium group, Health Alliance Plan and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.

"I believe our campaign works. The support from the citizens gets bigger each year because all of us want to end gun violence," said Hood.

The reverend launched his first campaign in 1997, after Detroit grandmother Sandra Latham was killed by a stray bullet from a New Year’s reveler while sitting at her dining room table. Hood claimed that gun-related injuries have gone down substantially in Detroit between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day since the launch of the first campaign.

The campaign began on December 26 this year with television spots, and culminated with an annual press conference. Campaign participants also distributed informational cards reminding local residents to abstain from gun use during New Year’s festivities.

"I applaud Reverend Hood for bringing attention to the important issue of firearm safety, and for continuing to make this a priority year after year," said Bill Alvin, president and chief executive of the Health Alliance Plan.

The efforts of Reverend Hood in Detroit mirror the work of many law enforcement agencies and nonprofit partnerships across the nation. Officials in Los Angles, Las Vegas, Concord, North Carolina and a host of other U.S. cities have also issued statements asking revelers to abstain from celebratory gunfire this New Year’s Day.