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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Our fieldwork with the Newtown Alliance was the most work we have put in yet to really stop gun violence. As we called senators from various states talking about Ethans law, which is when gun owners would be required to secure their firearms in a secure gun storage or safety device, and giving example on how it would help. The host of the zoom meetings son and 3 other family members have been victims of gun violence, Newtown Alliance started after the sandy hook school shooting.

We each called ten senators I was sent to voicemail seven times, a real person answered twice, and there was one with no response. We had a script we use for each senator and we would convey our message that Ethan’s law shall be passed, and it would stop many deaths that would have not happened with Ethan’s law enforced. All in all it was a wondeerful expierence and hopefully we made a difference in the U.S.A to make it a safer place!

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Our fieldwork with Donna Dees, is definetly going to be really helpful. She has a very cool story, and a warming personality. She started the million mom march, which is a protest against gun violence affecting kids. She made it primarily for moms but high schoolers, college students, dads, single people, and so on were also welcome. She started it because at the time in 1999 a white supremacist shot kids at a daycare that were around her kids age. She said the gun industry tried finding ways to market guns to people who aren’t normally the type of person you would expect to have a gun, for example she said she went to a gun store and to “appeal a gun to her” they offered her a pink one.

She also shared with us some horrific stats like, 76% percent of school shooters get their guns from unlocked guns in their homes or from a relative. Gun death statistics have risen since covid. Guns are now the #1 cause of death for kids and teens.. She also mentioned how New York has pretty good gun laws, and if the rest of the country brought their gun laws up to California’s and New York’s level, it would greatly reduce our country’s gun deaths. She is not against ownership of gun though. Another crazy stat she shared was that UK banned guns in the 1990s and the law passed with not too much backlash. The only Scot killed by a gun last year was not in Scotland but he was killed in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also gave us some strategies to help fight against gun violence like, organizing, bold ideas, and persistence. And all of this is just a little bit of what she said, all in all, she taught us a lot.

Questions and answers:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jDLyKGG-0hy3pJMgItjq7BnIjbpuCSYBn5g1TVqATZ8/edit

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For our fieldwork, we were able to get in touch for a Lunch & Lobby. Where we went on zoom and then were able to call 12 senators to convince them to pass Ethan’s Law. Ethan’s Law is a law which is trying to protect children and others from unsecured firearms. The name was named when Ethan a boy was tragically killed by an unsecured gun in 2018. The law would prevent things like this from happening again, by requiring safe gun storage. the Lunch and Lobby was run by a woman named Angela Weber who chose to get into the gun violence movement after her son survived a school shooting. As we called all the senators, we realized that not all of them would pick up. and typically we would just leave a voicemail. Some of the people in my group actually did get a hold of a senator on the phone! But sadly I was not one of those people. Overall this Lunch & Lobby was a pretty cool experience that I enjoyed doing a lot.

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First, we zoomed in on the Newtown Action Alliance, a non-profit organization that helps fight gun violence in America, and got to learn about the people present. The first thing we learned was the personal experiences of the people at work in this organization and how it urged them to take action. This part of the fieldwork was very interesting because hearing the heartbreaking stories of those affected was a wake-up call for us to step up and fight for a gun violence-free America. The next thing we learned was about Ethan’s law. Ethans Law is a bill that enforces the security of firearms if they have the possibility of getting into the hands of a minor. Basically, making sure all firearms are untouchable for those who may harm themselves or others with them Once we learned about Ethan’s law, we got a list of senators and their numbers. From there, we followed a script that urged all the senators to cosponsor (support) Ethan’s law.

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Today, January 29, both gun violence groups joined the Newtown Action Alliance’s lobbying event. Newtown Action Alliance is a group of people who are trying to reduce gun violence percentages through legislative and cultural changes. In this event students learned more about gun violence and recent events related to it. We also learned how to contact senators and asked them to co-sponsor S. 173, Ethan’s Law. Ethan’s law says that gun owners should be required to secure their firearms in a “secure gun storage or safety device” if a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without permission, or if a resident of the dwelling cannot legally possess a firearm under existing law. We are fighting for this law because way too many children have died from accidental gun deaths. Most of these deaths came from improperly stored weapons.

For the rest of the session, me and my classmates actually called the senators and proposed to them why they should sponsor Ethan’s law. It was a very enjoyable experience for me because I got to contact high power officials and have them consider helping a cause that I am very fond of, being gun control. I was not able to talk to every senator directly, but I was still able to get my point across through voicemail which was just as impactful. This experience was very special to me and I am very glad I can now put the information we learned into an informational presentation for everybody.

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Our fieldwork with Marika helped me and my group learn a lot about the mental health side of gun violence. She helped us learn that connecting gun violence and mental health is not the right thing to do. And people thinking that people who have mental health issues are violent, are straight up wrong, and just making unknowlegable inference. She shared chilling and scary facts about the truth of suicide as well and just how common it is, as six out of every ten gun deaths in the U.S.A are suicide, 68 suicides happen a day in the U.S.A alone.

Here is a quote from her that sums up a lot of what she said in my opinion, this is what she said, “The vast majority of gun violence is not perpetuated by people with mental ilness.” Both Gun violence and mental illnes are both national problems. And at that very big ones, as many die from both each and everyday. So in conclusion this fieldwork helped us learn a whole lot!

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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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Today our gun violence SJ group talked to Wally’s mother Marika Condos. Marika Condos is a therapist living in NYC who has been working with people for 25 years. In our 30 minute interview, Marika gave us good information about her work in Mental Health. During the interview Marika talked about how mental health doesn’t actually affect and/or increase gun violence percentages. This is a myth that shooters have mental health issues and most of the population believes this myth. Marika was talking about how dangerous this myth can be because mental health really affects peoples lives, but it doesn’t correlate to gun violence.

Another major topic that Marika talked about was that a lot of people who need help are afraid to get it and would rather suffer. I think this is very interesting because these people who keep suffering and don’t get help can lead to committing suicide or maybe worse with mass shootings. These people who commit mass shootings may not be mentally unstable but tragically harmed and are suffering because of their own circumstances. Also she talked about how gun laws need to be strengthened and how it is way too easy to get a firearm and how little people are going to therapy even though they need it.

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On January 12th, 2024, the 8th grade at LREI went to the United Nations office in NYC to learn more about their Social Justice Project. While at the UN we were given a tour by one of their tour guides and were able to see plenty of informational pieces of art and special rooms. On the trip we saw many different artifacts, for example, one that came from the Hiroshima bomb site. The coolest thing for me was getting to see the three government rooms that UN leaders meet in and discuss important topics. This was very interesting for me because I got to be in the same room as very powerful people and it was very special to learn about its history.

Something that I saw at the UN that related to my SJ topic was the Non-Violence statue that lived outside the main entrance. This piece of art was given to the United Nations HQ by Carl Fredrik Reutersward a Swedish artist. This sculpture depicts a 45 caliber-revolver with it’s barrel tied in a knot. The main message it’s trying to give is the vision of a peaceful world and having it placed at the UN where they decide human rights is very impactful. Although the statue is also a memorial to John Lennon, one of Carl’s friends who tragically died. This statue relates to our SJ topic because it shows how tragic gun violence is and how many people want peace in the world.

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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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