ART 3170 Civic Engagement: Social Issues "Action" Project: Gun Violence

By: Alondra Villegas

What is Civic Engagement?

“Civic engagement means participating in activities intended to improve the quality of life in one’s community by addressing issues of public concern…”
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-civic-engagement-definition-and-examples-5072704
In the Policy Circle they define civic engagement “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.”
https://www.thepolicycircle.org/brief/whats-whys-civic-engagement/
To me civic engagement signifies the community coming together solving a certain issue that needs a solution whether it’s affecting their environment or a certain individual.
The social issue that I want to focus on for this project is gun violence. There have been so many deaths due to this and it should be brought up into making a change. I do believe there are people in my community who are affected by this social issue as well.

Problem Definition:

STEP 1: Research

Overall, there have been deaths due to gun violence in Los Angeles and all over the United States. It’s a social issue that puts so many lives in danger and causes families to lose loved ones due to this violence. Without any doubt there should be stricter gun laws that help prevent less gun activity and prohibit those who want to do any harm to others. I’ve looked up two sources which are articles containing the increase in gun violence. According to an article “Homicides in Los Angeles reach highest level in 15 years during 1st half of 2022: report” written by Leo Stallworth and Grace Manthey discusses and provides statistics on the increase in homicides due to firearms. Below is a graph provided in the article:

In this graph you will be able to see the years in which most of the homicides were caused by a firearm. From 2010-2022 you can see the increase and decrease but the most out of all the data is this year 2022 which is 77%.

In another article from the Los Angeles Times “For one Pasadena neighborhood, gun violence is unrelenting” written by Nathan Solis discusses in depth onto families affected by gun violence in Pasadena. A lot of families experience a loss of a loved one and I can’t imagine the pain they must feel. With protests in trying to end gun violence the community starts to progress change.

The image below shows a protest that happened in Pasadena according to Los Angeles times:

STEP 2: Personal

This social issue affects me because it happens in my community. Whenever I watch the news there’s always a news story about gun violence whether the victim is either hurt or deceased. I don’t want this to ever happen in my family, it would be so horrific. I sometimes am scared for my own life because I don’t know what to expect. I’ve heard gunshots before but they were during the night and I wasn’t sure if they were real. There has also been a time when someone in my neighborhood got shot from a hit and run. My neighborhood wasn’t safe at the time because of that recent shooting it scared me. I chose this issue to talk more on gun violence and spread awareness on how dangerous it is to the community. All over the world there have been mass shootings that have caused so many innocent lives whether in school, supermarkets, neighborhoods, or even acts of police officers trying to protect themselves with their gun. Like a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas 19 students and 2 adults were killed with the use of a firearm this caught so many people's attention it even caught mine. There are so many other events that questioned my safety. It’s hard to even imagine why this is still an occurring issue in our world.

Gathering Evidence:

Jesus Valdez

“I think it's bad for the communities especially since our families are out there you really never know what can happen. I recently got pulled up with a gun 3 feet away from me and it was the scariest thing I’ve experienced. It really sucks because no one wants to go through that especially when our loved ones are doing errands at any time you just don’t know what kind of people you're going to meet”

Goyahkla Robles

“I don’t believe anyone should be allowed a gun, even officers. They are very dangerous and there are high casualties in shootings or even anyone with children having a gun at home no matter how locked away it is. For a gun to be effectively used with an intruder it needs to be put together”

Andrea Magdaleno

“I feel like gun violence sucks because we have lost a lot of people because of it, a lot of young people too. There were a few people from our highschool that died from gun violence and they were so young they didn’t get the chance to even experience life. Same with the elementary kids in Texas. Gone too early due to gun violence.”

I wanted to add another community affected by gun violence that a previous member of my community mentioned.

Uvalde, Texas

This was a recent school shooting that happened back on July 10th, 2022.

I took this photo from an article discussing how the judge sealed the autopsy’s of the victims of gun violence in Robb Elementary School, who were taken from this earth too soon. It’s heartbreaking to the parents that they will never see their child. School was supposed to be their safe space but gun violence interfered causing so much pain and unsafeness. There should be an end to Gun violence and there should be laws preventing people to purchase any firearm without going through checks.

Other Communities that were affected by gun violence:

In an article called “Americas gun violence problem by the numbers” written by Nadine El-Babb the two other communities discussed along with the Uvalde, Texas.