The Lawrence City Commission seems intent on trying to make the community safer with penalties for gun activity, and fire and medical leaders are proposing a new code that will ban charcoal and gas grills from wooden decks of apartment complexes.

Kudos to both efforts.

There is no sense whatever in allowing people who think this is the Wild West to tote firearms in the vicinity of local drinking establishments. Such activities have caused many to avoid a number of parts of town, particularly after dark. It is time such fears are eliminated, or at least eased.

Evidence now is that gun violations will draw not only stiff fines but actual jail time: 30, 60 or 90 days depending on how many times the unlawful act is repeated. Money being as easy to acquire as it seems to be for some people, the fines may not be much of a deterrent. But languishing in a cell, with no prospect for probation, for a month or more is something about which even “tough guys” may be wary. There needs to be zero tolerance with tough penalties strictly enforced.

As for the grills on wooden apartment porches and decks, we are indeed fortunate there have not been more accidents and tragedies because of such devices and their intense heat.

Notes Rich Barr, local fire marshal: “If you have a fire at an apartment complex, it could endanger a large number of folks, not just you and your family. : We get a large number of calls from apartment complex owners. They are the ones seeing it every day and they tell us they would like it to be illegal. That tells me something.”

That ought to tell the City Commission something, as well. How many times have we seen grills burning on a wooden deck or balcony and wondered how long it might be before there was trouble? What about smoldering grills left overnight?

No matter how complete and firm the ordinances against such hazards might be, they need to be enforced. When fire meets wood, the result is predictable, and grills on wooden planking are no exception.

So let’s come down hard and consistently on gun violators and remove grills from spots where they can cause heavy damage, injury and death. Not long ago, we lost three people in a horrible apartment fire and left many others hurt, as well as deprived of belongings. Let’s not allow a careless grill operator to cause a repeat of such a tragedy.