According to NBCNews, the hulking boxes were put in place last fall, after gunfire at a subsidized apartment complex across the street damaged five homes inside the Naval Construction Battalion Center. The base responded by increasing patrols around its perimeter and by increasing security around one of the most fortified areas of Gulfport.
A spokesperson at the base said the barrier is meant to be a “temporary solution” and that the city had offered assurances that it was addressing the gun violence issue. Still, the Navy is considering building a permanent concrete wall.
“The force protection of our base, personnel, and families is our highest priority,” Becky Shaw, the spokesperson, said in an email.
The shipping containers are just one indicator of the grinding toll of gunfire afflicting cities and towns in the United States.
Residents and workers in Gulfport, a town of about 72,000, have detailed the recurring snap of gunshots, incidents in which apartments have been struck by stray rounds, and the increasing frustration of the young and old alike having to scramble for cover when someone opens fire.
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