Name: Eli Harris

Social Justice Group: Gun Control

Date of Fieldwork: November 21, 2017

Name of Organization: M and J Harris Association

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: James Harris

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

My group mates and I went to go interview James Harris who is a criminal defense attorney in New York City.

What I learned:

I learned that if you are convicted of something that has to do with assault with a gun you have to go to jail for a minimum of 3 1/2 years. I learned that since he has became a lawyer the amount of gun related convictions have gone down. I also learned that if you are convicted of even possessing a gun illegally the minimum sentence is 1 year.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

I have learned that a lot has improved but there is still more work to be done. Background checks can not do it all. A lot of people are buying guns outside of states that don’t allow open carry and then selling them in the non open carry states. A lot of people that own guns do not have licenses and they get them illegally. Being an activist for gun control is very important. It has gotten safer but there is still lots and lots of dangers out there.