On January 30th, my group interviewed Donna Dees. Donna Dees is an activist for gun control and she talked to us about her experience, fighting for stricter gun laws and starting the Million Mom March. The Million Mom March was a march on the Capitol that took place on Mother’s Day, 2000. The Million Mom March was a huge success and it helped bring attention to weak gun policies that needed to be reworked. Donna was one of the best interviewees due to her extensive knowledge of gun violence and the history of activism. She shared with us many statistics like how 76% of school shooters acquire a gun from their household or from a relative. Donna Dees now lives in New Orleans and she is still a huge activist for gun control. She is inspirational and we learned plenty.

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On January 29th, my group mates and I joined Newtown Action Alliance Foundation (NAAF) during their meeting. The NAAF is a group that takes action against gun violence by supporting new laws for firearm restrictions. My group, along with another group researching gun violence, met with members of the NAAF to learn about gun violence. One of the things we learned is that there are new laws being proposed that aim to hinder the amount of gun deaths. During this time, we also assisted the NAAF in their lobbying efforts. Lobbying is when people call the offices of government officials to ask for their support for new laws and legislation. We were lobbying for Ethan’s Law, a new law that will make it illegal to keep an unsecured firearm if there is a chance that someone who cannot lawfully possess a firearm may gain access to that weapon.

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On January 19th, my group met with one of our members, Wally’s, mother, Marika Condos. Marika has been a therapist for 25 years and she has worked with many people and organizations. We talked to her about the relationship between gun violence and mental health. One of the major points she made was expressing how the idea that mental illness leads to gun violence is a myth. She was very adamant about debunking this myth and she said that gun violence and mental health are more linked through trauma of mental illness. More than 50% of gun related deaths are suicides and Marika brought this up many times. Another main point she made was about how mental health and wellbeing has been a disaproved of for decades. Not until recently, therapy and selfcare have become more mainstream. Our group gained a lot of valueble information from Marika. We are now more prepared for further feildwork and studying.

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My fellow classmates and I went to the United Nations Building in NYC. It was tremendously enormous and filled with many interesting artworks and rooms. The tour guide was very nice and very detailed in her explanations. 10/10 would recommend. The guide explained the purposes of every room, such as how The General Assembly is used for discussing international issues of all kinds. I would also like to mention the rooms had very nice, soft carpeting. Although the trip did not have a large impact on my group’s topic, we did learn that the military budget of every nation combined is almost 1.8 trillion dollars. Overall 10/10 trip that I would recommend to tourists and NYC citizens alike.

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