Editorial: Garfield standoff shows more consequences of gun violence

The impact of gun violence is usually measured in bodies.

We count it in the day-to-day numbers of small crimes. One shot here. Two killed there. Over and over again.

We tally it in the staggering explosions of mass-casualty events. Eleven worshippers. Twenty-three Walmart shoppers. Nineteen children and two teachers.

Is too much time spent on the blood? It’s an aspect that people can make people shrink away, ignoring something that can be painful to acknowledge. Everyone wants to believe these things can’t touch them — even when evidence speaks to the contrary.

But an event Wednesday in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood illustrates how an event involving just one home can have broader impact.

Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies showed up at the home of William Hardison Jr., 63, for an eviction. It quickly became much more — a six-hour interaction between the deputies; Pittsburgh police; Allegheny County Police; the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office; the FBI; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and multiple SWAT teams.

The bullets were hard to calculate. State police worried about running out of ammo. Think about that. The police were concerned about not having enough bullets.

The only firearms casualty was Hardison, who is believed to have been killed by a police bullet. That doesn’t mean he was the only person affected.

Residents of Broad and North Matilda streets were trapped inside their homes until it was safe to be removed from the area. Same with babies and children at a Penn Avenue daycare center. Bullets ripped through the walls of nearby houses.

But it ended, and people could get back to normal. Except that, even then, there was a consequence. Because of the large police presence, 50 Pittsburgh police officers were on the administrative leave that follows discharging a firearm.

Gun violence is more than just a physical danger and psychological trauma. Its tentacles spread insidiously. It can affect the logistics of law enforcement and drain budgets. It strikes at neighbors and neighborhoods.

Do we need to focus more on those more bottom-line measurements to find a solution?