Stop Gun Violence

Stopping Gun Violence

What civic engagement means to me?

What civic engagement means to me, is when someone or more than one individual is addressing or voicing their concerns. It can mean different many things but civic engagement is a way of getting many people to act on situations that mean a lot to them. 

• According to the article youth.GOV it states, "civic engagement involves working to make a difference in the civic life of one's community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make the difference". https://youth.gov/youth-topics/civic-engagement-and-volunteering 

• In the article American Psychological Association it states, "individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issue of public concern".   https://www.apa.org/education-career/undergrad/civic-engagement 

What is gun violence?

Gun violence is the use of a firearm in a violent criminal act. For example homicide, assault of a deadly weapon, suicide, or school shootings. Gun violence physically hurts someone and can be emotinally damaging to victims and their families. 

Step 1: Reasearch 

Throughout the U.S. many women, men, and children are killed due to gun violence. Many people's lives are negatively affcted and they have to suffer through emotional pain. Gun violence is a very common problem in most states as it has become a lot easier to access them. As I started to conduct my research, I found two articles to discuss. One is about gun deathts that have occured in the U.S. and the other one is about states that have the most gun violence share one trait. 

According to Pew Research Center article it states, "In 2020 the most recent year for which complete data is available, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. according to the CDC." The article also discusses how many murders and suicides involve a firearm. Down below is an image of the statistics of the suicides accounted for, 43% were murder and 54% was suicide. For other, 3% of the deaths were unintentional. 

In this other article, according to CNN it states, "Texas suffered 4,164 gun deaths in 2020, the most recent year for which the CDC has published data. That's a rate of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 Texans. California, by comparison, saw 3,449 deaths, a gun death rate of 8.5. Texas does not have the highest gun death rate, however." These statistics have shown how dangerous it has been in Texas and the amount of pain and suffering families have to go through is so sad. Overall, there are a few states with top gun death rates:

• Mississippi 50% of adults live witha firearm in their home. 
• Louisiana 48%
• Wyoming 59%
• Missouri 48%
• Alabama 50%
• Alasksa 59%

This here has shown us that many people are gaining too much control of owning a gun and need to stopped by the government. But thats the thing, it is very hard for the government to stop selling firearms because that is their way of making most of their money. It is unfair to many families and people should fight for justice on gun control. 

Step 2: Personal 

How does this issue affect me?

Growing up in the area of Northeast Los Angeles as a latina, I was used to seeing many people pass away and as a kid, it wasn't something normal. People from my culture and community were constantly losing their lives to gun violence. I'm very passionate about this issue as it makes me want to help many underserved communities and fight for gun control. It is unfair to children growing up in these communitites and not being able to grow up because their life was taken at a young age. This image below speaks very loudly to me and touches me as it reminds me of the school shooting that occured in Uvalde, Texas. Those poor children died all because of a mass shooting, its unfair to them and their families

How does this issue affect my community?

This gun violence issue affects my community in many negative ways.The violence continues to get worse every year and nothing is being done to stop it. Families are suffering and so is my community, as they have to witness adolescents or even adults lose their life due to gun violence. 

Gathering Evidence:

How does this issue affect people in my community?

"Hello my name is Gerardo Monrroy, I'm 23 years old and I have been a witness of someone who survirved attempted murder. Seeing this affected me in ways where I wasn't able to sleep, eat, or be communicating with people out in the real life world. It was even harder to process because it was a childhood friend and this incident occurred right in front of my home. I tried to cope with this tragedy by always painting or drawing, and that was one way of helping me feel better. Gun violence is no joke and it is very devastating to witness people get hurt. I would also like to mention that in the image above, it was taken while I was on vacation in Mexico. My parents decided it was a good idea to get my mind off the traumatic event that occurred." 

"Hello my name is Dalila Castilleja, I'm 40 years old and I work at a high school in Northeast Los Angeles. When I started working for this charter school, I was very happy and really enjoyed working in the office as an assistant. One day around December before the kids went on their winter break, a school shooting threat was made. I left a few days early from work and started my vacation, I was mortified when I received calls and text messages from my daughter. She was also working at the school with me and kowing that a threat was made and I was miles away, didn't help. I was helpless and feared what would happen next. Thankfully everyone was able to get home safe but I couldn't imagine what would happento my daughter and knowing that I wasnt there to comfort her was devastating. Gun violence needs to end for good, people in the community are frightened as there poor babies attend school and not knowing what will happen next is frightening."

"Hello my name is Jose Guerra, I'm 24 years old and I have been abused by someone who was threatening me with a gun. I was at the park with two other friends going on a run when a few guys decided to approach us and ask what gang we were from. My friends and I were not affiliated with any gang and were threatened by these strange guys. They made us give them our personal belongings, which I did and when I did they decided to hit me on the head with a gun causing me to end up in the hospital. I did a report at the police station but the guys were never found and I suffered a traumatic event. It was very unfortunate that I had to go through that."

Resources:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/ 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/gun-violence-data-what-matters/index.html