2012: 15 GR killings - 12 used handguns

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - After the Newtown massacre the use of assault weapons has overtaken the national conversation. But local police say they rarely come across assault weapons like the AR 15.  

More often, it's a handgun tucked in a waistband.

For the street cop and for those who live here, the problem is the easy availability of handguns and criminals who shouldn't be walking around with them.

In Grand Rapids in 2012, the killers in 12 of the 15 homicides used firearms -- all of them handguns. Police recovered the guns in only two of those cases, including Monday's double-murder suicide in a van outside a counseling center.

Marvin Lockridge used a 9mm handgun to kill Quiana Long and her stepsister Chelsea Magoon.

"They've got the handguns in their pocket that they can walk around with every day, just up and down the street casually, every day, like me and you. But they've got guns," Vincent Long told 24 Hour News 8. He's Quiana's father and Chelsea's stepfather.

"It could have been 100% different if he'd had a knife. They could have fought back."

In Grand Rapids, it's more than just homicides that tell the story. Since 2009, crimes involving handguns jumped 20%,to 370 so far this year.

That's more than one every day.

Reports of shots fired have jumped 25%, to nearly 900 in 2011 -- well over two every day.

Detectives are investigating how Lockridge got the gun. They said it wasn't stolen, but his parents told 24 Hour News 8 they don't know where it came from.

Four years ago, Grand Rapids police denied Lockridge a permit to legally buy a handgun based on questions about his mental stability. Those questions were raised in earlier investigations, including a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence.

In 2009, he was convicted on a concealed weapons charge. That meant he was a convicted felon who couldn't legally carry a gun.

"Just any kind of handgun they can get. It don't make no difference. Any type they can get," Vincent Long said. "That shouldn't have been in his possession in the first place."

A candlelight vigil to remember Quiana Long and Chelsea Magoon is planned for Wednesday night to both honor them and raise awareness to the violence that took them.

"On my family alone," Vincent Long said, "it's very devastating because of a firearm."

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In 2012, these people have died from gunshot wounds in Grand Rapids:

Lance Byers
Terrance Stokes
Tavon Jackson
Brian Martinez
Felix Romero Reyes-Santos
Alvaro Carrillo-Mendez
Terrance Williams
Wellington Guevara
Roybin Lyn Griggs-Johnson
Eve'Vana Galloway
Quiana Long
Chelsea Magoon