Gun Violence Prevention Curriculum

Document Sample
Gun Violence Prevention Curriculum Powered By Docstoc
					                                Gun Violence
                                Gun Violence

Commonwealth of PA
Department of Public Welfare
Bureau of Juvenile Justice Services
   In 1985, Handguns killed
   46 People in Japan
   8 in Great Britain
   31 in Switzerland
   5 in Canada
   18 in Israel
   5 in Australia
   and 8,092 in the United States.

The pen is mightier than the gun
Write Handgun Control, Inc. Now
1225 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC 20005
or call (202) 898-0792

Stop Handguns before they stop you.

A very special thanks go to the following people who,
through their efforts, made the Gun Violence
Prevention Group possible:
                      Barbara Montgomery
                       Million Mom March
                             Tim Davis
                          Clinical Manager
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                           Jenny Naugle
               Youth Development Counselor Manager
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                           Lisa Swisher
              Youth Development Counselor Supervisor
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                            Jim Parks
                  Youth Development Counselor
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                          Randy Goshorn
                  Youth Development Counselor
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                            Tim Little
              Youth Development Counselor Supervisor
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                          James Fleming
                     Youth Development Aide
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                           Jason Sheffer
                     Youth Development Aide
                Loysville Youth Development Center
                        William Schneck
                         Clinical Manager
                North Central Secure Treatment Unit
                       Larry Sutton, Ph.D.
                  Licensed Psychologist Manager
                 Bureau of Juvenile Justice Services

      Gun Violence Prevention Workbook
Table of Contents:

  Group Expectations (write them down!):...................................11
  More on the financial impact of gun violence.........................47
  To carry or not to carry, that is the question… ..........................87


Session 1:
What’s This
 Group All

          Session 1: What’s This Group All
Objectives of today’s group:

     -   Take the pretest
     -   Set group expectations
     -   Provide an overview of what the group is about
     -   Learn about different kinds of gun violence
     -   Set homework for next week
     -   Wrap Up

Group Expectations (write them down!):








This group is about…

In recent years, gun violence among adolescents and
young men, such as yourself, has been increasing at
alarming rates. This has many negative effects. Gun
violence can affect you, personally, either directly or
indirectly. If you know somebody who has been shot at or
has actually been shot, raise your hand. Keep your hand up.
If you have heard gunfire in your neighborhood, raise your
hand. Keep your hand up. If guns are a problem in your
school, raise your hand. Keep your hand up. If you have
ever worried about being shot, raise your hand. Keep your
hand up. Now, look around the room.

       - How many hands are up?
       - What does this mean to you?
       - How much of a problem do the other group
         members view gun violence to be?

The rise in gun violence has had devastating effects on
individuals, families, and society in general. The purpose of
this group is to help you learn what YOU can do to prevent
gun violence. In this group, you will:

  1. Learn about the impact of gun violence on individual,
     familial, communal, and societal levels.
  2. Learn what contributes to the problem of gun violence.
  3. Learn what factors may leave you vulnerable to
     being a victim of, or even a perpetrator of, gun
  4. Learn what you, personally can do to prevent gun

  5. Learn what families can do to prevent gun
  6. Learn what communities can do to prevent gun

Before We Get Started
       Gun violence has far reaching effects. Chances are you have
been impacted in some way. You may have lost a friend or a family
member to gun violence. You yourself may have been victimized
directly. If this is the case, you may find yourself having trouble going
through some of this material. This is natural and completely
understandable. If you believe you may have difficulty working
through some of this material, be sure to talk to the group facilitator
prior to the next group session. Together, you and the group
facilitator, along with your counselor, can determine how to best
help you through the course.

What is Gun Violence?
      Gun violence is any act involving a gun that harms another
individual or group of individuals. There a number of different kinds of
gun violence. The five main types that we will discuss in this group

     1.   Suicide
     2.   Unintentional gun violence
     3.   Crime-related gun violence
     4.   Unplanned, deliberate gun violence
     5.   Planned, deliberate gun violence

      Gun violence by suicide occurs when an individual kills him
or herself with a gun, or injures him or herself in the process of
trying to commit suicide.

     Retired police officer commits suicide
     A retired Philadelphia patrolman died Thursday at his home in Broomall of a self-
     inflicted gunshot wound. Mr. Francis, formerly of the Northeast, had been suffering
     from cancer of the larynx. His family said he had been depressed because his
     treatments had not been effective and he was broke.

     "He had no health insurance and the doctors wanted to operate on him again," said
     his son, a full-time staff sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. "My
     sister and I tried to help out, but the medical bills were too much.

     "He was depressed and lonely," his son said.

     Mr. Francis, who grew up in West Philadelphia, dropped out of West Catholic High
     School in the 10th grade and worked as a short-order cook until joining the Air Force
     in April 1965. He was honorably discharged after one month and five days according
     to military discharge papers.

     Afterward, he worked at various jobs until marrying Michelle Stevens in 1967, the
     same year he joined the Police Department. He was a patrolman his whole career,
     and had beats in Southwest Philadelphia, South Philadelphia and Roxborough.

     "My dad loved being a cop. He was proud to serve this city," his son said. "He liked
     patrolling streets, helping people."

     He retired in 1988, and worked a number of security jobs before quitting for good in
     1999. After he was diagnosed with cancer in November 2005, he had surgery, and
     moved to Broomall to be closer to his children. In December, the cancer returned,
     and he was told that he would need another surgery, his son said.

     In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Francis is survived by daughter, Jennifer; two
     grandchildren; and a brother.

Unintentional Gun Violence
       Unintentional gun violence occurs when somebody with a
gun accidentally harms another individual. Such is the case when
somebody is playing around with a gun and it accidentally goes
off, striking another person.

     19-year-old dies after accidental shooting
     Posted on Jan 1, 2007 8:16:20 AM

     Update From Volusia County Sheriff's Office:

     Horseplay with a loaded handgun led to the death of a 19-year-old man New Year’s
     Eve near Holly Hill. The Volusia County Sheriff' Office was notified of the incident at
     approximately 11:59 p.m. and rushed to the scene at 1229 Derbyshire Road. They
     found the victim, John Debella Jr., dead inside on a couch with a gunshot wound to
     his head. Sean Page was also inside and admitted to deputies that he had
     accidentally shot his friend.

     Investigators interviewed Page and other witnesses and determined that Page had
     recently purchased a .45 caliber handgun and was carrying it in a holster throughout
     the evening of the shooting. Witnesses said that Page had pulled the gun out several
     times and pointed it at others, including Debella, in jest. Page told investigators that
     each time he had done so, he checked to make sure the gun was not loaded and
     was safe. He also said that he and his friends often joke around with weapons, and
     that he is on active duty in the U.S. Army and has had weapons training and

     At approximately 11:50 p.m. Page pulled the gun from its holster and pointed it at
     Debella's temple. According to witnesses, Debella played along and adjusted the gun
     himself so that it pointed at his forehead. Page had his finger on the trigger and said
     that Debella's movement nudged Page's finger, causing the weapon to fire. Page
     said that he didn’t' know the gun was loaded at the time of the shooting. Page, 20,
     was charged with manslaughter and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in
     Daytona Beach.

Crime-Related Gun Violence
     Crime-related gun violence occurs when an individual commits
a crime using a gun. An example of this type of gun violence is
robbing somebody at gunpoint. The other person is not harmed
physically; however, he or she is harmed mentally or in other,
nonphysical ways.

     Hwy. 78 Subway robbed at gunpoint
     By Sharon Swanepoel
     The Loganville Tribune

     Published January 19, 2007

     LOGANVILLE — The Subway Restaurant in Loganville was robbed at gunpoint Monday
     evening by a woman allegedly carrying a semi-automatic handgun.

     According to the police report, a black woman dressed in blue jeans and a black hooded
     jacket with her face partially covered by a red scarf entered the Subway at about 10:22
     p.m., pointed a gun at the attendant and demanded money.

     Cameron Hubbard of Loganville, who was working in the restaurant at the time, said the
     subject then handed him a red bag and demanded he give her the money but not to
     include any change.

     She then grabbed the purse of another customer who was in the restaurant at the time
     before running out and speeding off in a sports car described as either silver or beige in

     The customer who was in the store at the time said she had about $1,000 in cash, her
     check book, credit cards and about $1,500 worth of jewelry in her purse at the time it was
     stolen. Hubbard said the thief got away with about $187 in cash from the register.

     Another witness who was at the four-way stop at the time reported he saw a dark figure
     jump into a car and speed off towards Snellville.

     Police reported store owners from the surrounding stores that were open at the time said
     they hadn’t seen anything.

     The suspect is described as a black female, about five feet, nine inches in height with a
     heavy set build. Police do not have any surveillance of the robbery since the surveillance
     camera wasn’t working at the time.

 Unplanned, Deliberate Gun Violence
     Unplanned, deliberate gun violence occurs when an individual
physically harms another individual without advanced planning to
do so. An example is when somebody shoots another person in the
heat of passion, or if somebody shoots somebody while committing
a robbery. Again, the key is that the person did not plan to shoot the
other person before the incident occurred. It happened without

     Man dies from gunshot wound
     By: Sara Randazzo, The Press-Tribune

     The death of 40-year-old Christopher Lee Jackson has left a quiet West Roseville
     neighborhood shaken as friends and family mourn the loss of the man they knew and

     Jackson died Sunday night in a Sacramento area hospital of complications from a
     gunshot wound he suffered Aug. 13 following a shooting at his Magpie Court home.

     Melvin Hunter, 86, is being held without bail in the Placer County Jail on charges of
     murder, police said. Hunter was arrested after the shooting and initially charged with
     attempted murder. The charge was changed following Jackson's death, police said.

     Hunter lived with Jackson and his family for eight years and allegedly shot Jackson in
     the neck during an argument.

     Wife JoAnna Rodriguez said she is still unsure what caused the argument and
     subsequent shooting.

     Investigators are not releasing additional details in the case.

     Jackson, who worked as a drywall contractor and real estate agent, was being
     remembered this week by family and friends as a loving husband, father and a
     selfless friend.

Planned, Deliberate Gun Violence
      Planned, deliberate gun violence is when somebody harms
another individual, either mentally or physically, after planning to do
so before hand. For example, planning to shoot another individual
after school and then doing so is considered to be planned,
deliberate gun violence. In these circumstances, the perpetrator
intended use the gun to inflict harm on the other individual.

     Teen sentenced 50 years to life in slaying of De La Salle
     -Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

     A Contra Costa County judge today sentenced a 17-year-old boy to 50 years to life in
     prison on a first-degree murder conviction for fatally shooting a former De La Salle
     High School football star in Richmond in 2004.

     Darren Pratcher did not visibly react in a Martinez courtroom when Superior Court
     Judge Laurel Brady pronounced the maximum sentence for what she termed the
     "absolutely senseless violence" that ended the life of Terrance Kelly, 18.

    "I don't do this easily. It makes me extremely sad to be here today, but I don't think
    it's inappropriate in this circumstance," said Brady, who earlier today rejected the
    defense's motion for a new trial and pleas to reduce the sentence.

    In October, a jury convicted Pratcher of first-degree murder and gun enhancements
    in Kelly's slaying, convictions that under state law draw a sentence of 50 years to life
    in prison.

    On Aug. 12, 2004, Pratcher borrowed a loaded, .22-caliber rifle, hung around an
    apartment complex on Seventh Street in Richmond and ambushed Kelly, who had
    stopped his car at the complex to give his stepbrother a ride home.

    Pratcher fired the rifle four times at the victim as he sat in his car. Kelly was struck
    twice in the face, once in the back of the head and once in the back. Kelly died just
    two days before he was to leave for the University of Oregon, where he had a football
    scholarship and was expected to play safety.

    "Justice has been served," Kelly's father, Landrin Kelly, said. "There's no gratification,
    no glory, nothing at all. Two lives are wasted, like the judge said."

    He said he wanted to send a message to young people who consider settling
    arguments violently: "If you do wrong, you'll eventually get caught. The
    consequences are very severe. You kids don't know who's suffering the most -- it's
    the families, the parents, the victim's families. I can't see my son anymore."

    Pratcher didn't speak in court today, but over the course of several hours, the judge
    heard arguments as to what the sentence should be.

    Defense attorney Jonathan Laba read a letter his client wrote to the Kelly family in
    which he expressed his remorse. The attorney implored the judge, "I ask the court to
    show this boy some mercy."

    Pratcher's mother, Muriel Pratcher, told Brady, "This is hard for a mother to defend
    her son. I love him deeply but I don't uphold what he did. I'm extremely, extremely
    sorry. My heart goes out to the family.

Exercise: Talking Points
    A different set of circumstances can lead up to the
    occurrence of each of the different types of gun violence.
    Discuss what these circumstances may be for:


            Unintentional gun violence

            Crime-related gun violence

     Unplanned, deliberate gun violence

     Planned, deliberate gun violence

In what ways are these different types of gun violence the

Can crime-related gun violence also be considered to be
planned, deliberate gun violence? Why or why not?

If you had to rank the different types of gun violence in order of
“most problematic” to “least problematic”, what would your
order be? What lead you to rank them this way?

Homework: Week 1
In the first week of group you learned about 5 different kinds of gun
violence. Write about an example of one type of gun violence
drawing from things that have happened in your home counties. If
you can’t think of one, use a current news story. Be sure to write
about what happened, how the act impacted the victim(s), and
what you thought about the act when you first heard it had
happened. We will review your work at the beginning of the next
group session

Type of gun violence:_____________________________________________
What happened? ________________________________________________

How was the victim(s) impacted?__________________________________
What did you think when you heard?______________________________


Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                   Facilitator Signature      Date

Session 2: The
 Scope of the

             Session 2: The Scope of the
Objectives of today’s group:

  -   Warm-up/review group expectations
  -   Review homework from last week
  -   Identify how big the problem of gun violence is
  -   Set homework for next week
  -   Wrap Up

What’s Your Impression?
     Let’s take a few minutes to talk about gun violence back in
your home counties. Here’s a few starter questions:

      Are there many shootings in your county or city?

      What were the circumstances of the shootings?

      What types of gun violence happen the most in your county or
      city? Why do you think that is?

      Are there many gun related deaths?

      Are you fortunate to live where you live?

      Are shootings just a “city thing”, or is it a problem in the suburbs

What the Numbers Say…
   Read “4 Slayings Push City Death Toll to 400”

   4 slayings push city death toll to 400
   Philadelphia Daily News
   December 24, 2006

   There needs to be a total, citywide effort to clamp down

   There was little peace or hope on Philadelphia streets on the weekend before
   Christmas, as four men died early yesterday in separate shootings, pushing
   the city's 2006 homicide tally to 400.

   The number of homicides in the city so far this year stands at its highest level
   since 1997, when 418 were recorded. From 1990 to 1997, the city averaged
   435 homicides annually, with a high of 503 in 1990.

   Community leaders warned of a bloody new year unless residents from
   throughout the region make a concerted response to the violence.

   'We are beyond the prayer rallies,' said the Rev. Robert P. Shine Sr., pastor
   of Berachah Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and president of the
   Pennsylvania State Wide Coalition of Black Clergy.

   'When something is happening in the city of Philadelphia that is beyond the
   city's ability to cope, then we all need to help,' said Diane Edbril, executive
   director of CeaseFire PA, an advocacy group working for tougher gun-control
   laws in Pennsylvania.

   Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson last night said the answer goes
   beyond gun control and policing, noting that gun laws today are what they
   were in 2002, when homicides numbered 288.

   'Unless you change the mind-set, [if] you take away the guns, I think you're
   still going to have the stabbings and the beatings,' Johnson said.

   Issues such as education and jobs need to be addressed, too, he added.

   Bilal Qayyum, cofounder of the antiviolence group Men United for a Better
   Philadelphia, said the numbers could continue to rise. 'Until we as a city
   totally change this environment, we're going to see the same in 2007 as we
   saw in 2006,' he said.

   Young black men 'feel they are locked out of the system,' Qayyum said.
   'What they are doing is out of anger and frustration.'

   In the first of the weekend slayings, Michael Orlando, a pizza deliveryman,
   was shot late Saturday in Northeast Philadelphia in an apparent robbery. The

     43-year-old Philadelphia resident was pronounced dead early Sunday at
     Frankford Hospital-Torresdale Campus.

     An unidentified man was shot once in the neck at 2:25 a.m. yesterday near
     13th and Parrish Streets in North Philadelphia and died a short time later at
     Hahnemann University Hospital.

     Another unidentified man was found about 3 a.m. yesterday in the 3900 block
     of Market Street in University City with multiple gunshot wounds. He was
     pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

     A third unidentified man was found at 48th and Walnut Streets in West
     Philadelphia with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was pronounced dead
     about 6 a.m. yesterday at HUP.

     'There needs to be a total, citywide effort to clamp down' on violence in
     schools and on the streets, Shine said.

     Describing the death toll as a form of domestic terrorism, Shine also urged
     the state legislature to adopt tougher gun-control laws to limit access to

     In the course of one year, more than 400 people were killed by
guns. Take a minute to think about that number.

  - How many people are at your facility on a given day? How
    does that number compare to 400?

  - If each of those 400 people killed by guns in Philadelphia had 4
    family members who were left to morn their deaths, that would
    make 1600 family members who are additional victims to their
    murders. Additionally, if each of those initial 400 people who
    were killed by guns had 6 friends who were left to morn their
    deaths, that would create an additional 2400 victims. All in
    total, there would be 4400 victims who were touched by gun

      The following pages contain a number of different statistical
figures. The statistics were drawn from fact sheets offered publicly on
the Brady Campaign’s website at: Read the fact
sheets as a group and then discuss what you think they mean.

In 2002, the most recent year for which data is available, nearly eight young people aged
19 and under were killed a day by a firearm in the United States[1]. Nearly 36 per day
were non-fatally wounded.[2] The scourge of gun violence frequently attacks the most
helpless members of our society - our children. Consider these facts...

-      In 2002, 1,830 children and teenagers were murdered with guns, 828 committed
       suicide with guns, and 167 died in unintentional shootings. A total of 2,893 young
       people were killed by firearms in the U.S., one every three hours. [3]
-      Each year from 1993 to 1997, gun murders were committed by 1,621 killers under
       the age of 18.[4]
-      In 2002, 82% of murder victims aged 13 to 19 years old were killed with a firearm.[5]
-      During 2002, 48% of all murders of those under age 18 in the U.S. involved
-      Firearms are the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle accidents) for
       young people 19 and under in the U.S.[7]
-      The rate of firearm death of under 14-years-old is nearly 12 times higher in the U.S.
       than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.[8]
-      In 2002, for every child and teenager killed by a gun, more than four were estimated
       to be non-fatally wounded.[9]
-      From 1999 to 2002, firearms were responsible for 18% of injury deaths for
       Caucasian teens ages 13-19 in the United States, 51% of deaths for African-
       American teens, 32% of Hispanic teens, 17% of Native American/Alaska Native
       teens, and 20% of Asian/Pacific Islander teens.[10]
-      In a study of inner-city 7-year-olds and their exposure to violence, 75% of them
       reported hearing gun shots.[11]
-      The firearm injury epidemic, due largely to handgun injuries, is 10 times larger than
       the polio epidemic of the first half of this century."[12]
                                                                                   June 2005
1. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control.
(hereafter Injury Mortality Reports).
2. WISQARS, Nonfatal Injury Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control.
(hereafter Nonfatal Injury Reports).
3. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
4. Supplemental Homicide Data from the FBI.
5. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
6. Ibid.
7. WISQARS, Leading Causes of Death Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control, Centers for Disease Control.
8. "Firearm-Related Death in 26 Industrialized Countries", Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
9. WISQARS, Nonfatal Injury Reports.
10. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
11. Hallam Hurt, MD; Elsa Malmud, PhD; Nancy L. Brodsky, PhD; Joan Giannetta, BA,
"Exposure to Violence: Psychological and Academic Correlates in Child Witnesses,"
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, December 2001, Vol. 55, No. 12, pp.
12. Christoffel, Katherine Kaufer, "Handguns and the Environments of Children",

committed by perpetrators carrying a firearm,[1] and our minority communities are the
hardest hit:

-    In 2002, the firearm death rate for African-Americans was over twice that of
     be murdered than a white male under age 30.[4]
-    In 2003, 91 percent of African-American murder victims were slain by African-
-    offenders.[5]
-    In 2002, African-American males accounted for 47 percent of all homicide
     victims,[6] while they only account for 6 percent of the entire population.[7]
-    Firearms have become the predominant method of suicide for African-Americans
     aged 10-19 years, accounting for 64 percent of suicides in 2002.[8]
-    In Florida, African-American males have an almost eight times greater chance of
     dying in a firearm-related homicide than white males. In addition, the firearm-related
     homicide death rate for African-American females is greater than white males and
     over four times greater than white females.[9]
-    In Florida, White males have over twice as high a firearm-related suicide death rate
     as their African-American male counterparts and almost five times the rate of white
-    females.[10]
                                                                                  June 2005

1. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Key Facts at a Glance: Crimes committed with firearms,
1973-2003, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
2. WISQARS, Leading Causes of Death Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control, Centers for Disease Control. (hereafter Leading Causes of
Death Reports).
3. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control.
(hereafter Injury Mortality Reports).
4. Ibid.
5. FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2003, table 2.7, p. 18.
6. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
7. U.S. Census Bureau, July 1, 2004 national population estimates.
8. WISQARS, Leading Causes of Death Reports.
9. Florida Injury Prevention and Control Program. HRS Office of Health Promotion and
Wellness, 1993
10. Florida Injury Prevention and Control Program. HRS Office of Health Promotion and
Wellness, 1993


In 2002, 30,242 people were killed by guns in America - 83 people a day - including
17,108 suicides; 11,829 homicides; and 762 unintentional or accidental shootings.[1]

times) than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.[2]

An estimated 33-40% of households own guns [3, 4] and approximately 44-51 million
Americans personally own guns.[5, 6] As of 1994, Americans owned an estimated 192
million firearms.[7]

One out of three handguns is kept loaded and unlocked. More than half of all handguns
are kept either locked and/or unloaded.[8]

Nearly all childhood unintentional shooting deaths occur in or around the home. Fifty
percent occur in the home, and 40% occur in the home of a friend or relative. Most of
occur when children play with loaded guns.[9]

invasion crimes.[10]

Children and Teens

In the U.S. in 2002, firearm injuries were the third leading cause of death among children
aged 10-14 and the second leading cause of death for ages 15-19.[11]

For children and teens, 19 years and under in the year 2002, we lost 1,830 to firearm-
related homicide; 828 to firearm-related suicide; and 167 lives to unintentional shootings.
One young life lost every 3 hours.[12]


In 1998, it was estimated that 43% of households with children ages 3-17, keep at least
one gun in the home. Of this 43%, 23% keep a gun loaded some of the time and 28%
keep at least one gun hidden and unlocked.[13]

Have you ever thought to ask?

According to a study by Peter Hart and Associates and The Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence, 42% of parents polled revealed that they would be extremely concerned about
their child's safety if they knew there was a gun in the home of their child's friend. When
asked if they ever thought to ask:

        -   61% of parents reported that they never thought about asking;
        -   30% reported that they have asked; and
        -   6% thought about it, but never asked.[14]

A gun in the home increases the likelihood of an intentional shooting, particularly among

Unintentional shootings commonly occur when children find an adult's loaded handgun in

unintentional firearm-related death rate for children 0-14 years is 9 times higher in the
U.S. than in the 25 other high-income industrialized countries with populations over 1
million combined.[15]

For more information, visit The ASK Campaign at
July 2005

1. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
Centers for Disease Control.
(hereafter Injury Mortality Reports).
2. Kellermann, AL et al., "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." The Journal
of Trauma, Infection, and Critical Care, Vol. 45, No. 2, August 1998.
3. Tom W. Smith, “2001 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research
Center: Research Findings,” National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago,
December 2001. (33% of households own guns.)
4. The Gallup Organization, “Americans and Guns: Danger or Defense?” Gallup Poll
Tuesday Briefing, January 4, 2005. (40% of households own guns.)
5. Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, “Guns in America: National Survey on Private
Ownership and Use of Firearms,” Research in Brief, National Institute for Justice, Office
of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, May 1997. (44 million individual gun owners.)
6. Smith, “2001 National Gun Policy Survey of the National Opinion Research Center:
Research Findings.” (50.6 million individuals who personally own a gun – Applying 24.2%
estimate of adult gun owners to 2000 Census total of 209,128,904 adults).
7. Cook and Ludwig, “Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use
of Firearms.”
8. Ibid.
9. Safe Kids USA, “Firearms: Why Kids Are at Risk.”
10. Kellermann, AL, “Weapon Involvement in Home Invasion Crimes,” Journal of the
Medical Association, Vol. 273, No. 22, June 14, 1995.
11. WISQARS, Leading Causes of Death Reports. National Center for Injury Prevention
and Control, Centers for Disease Control.
12. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
13. Peter Hart Research Associates and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
“Parents, Kids, & Guns: A Nationwide Survey,” 1998.
14. Ibid.
15. Centers for Disease Control, “Rates of Homicide, Suicide, and Firearm-Related Death
Among Children -- 26 Industrialized Countries,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,
Vol. 46, No. 5, February 7, 1997.

Guns and domestic violence make a deadly combination. Over half of family murders are
caused by firearms.[1] Firearms assaults have been found to be 12 times as likely to result
in death as non-firearms assaults.[2]

Women as Victims in Firearms Homicides
In 2002, firearms were responsible for the deaths of 3188 white women, 825 African-
American women, 309 Hispanic women and 131 others.[3]

In 2002, 1,202 women were killed by their intimate partners,[4] accounting for 30% of
all murders of women,[5] and of that 1,202, 58% were killed by guns.[6]

In 2002, 700 women were killed by intimates using guns compared to 175 men.[7]
From 1990 to 2002, over two-thirds of the spouse and ex-spouse victims were killed by
guns, while 57 of girlfriends and 47 percent of boyfriends were killed by guns.[8]

African-American and Hispanic females, especially young women, remain at high

In 2002, among young women age 15 to 24, 225 African-Americans and 67 Hispanics
were killed by firearms.[9]

The African-American rate was over 5 times the rate of young white women and the
Hispanic rate was nearly 50% higher.[10]

Guns in the Home are Risk Factors for Domestic Violence

In 1997, the presence of a gun in the home made it 3.4 times more likely a woman would
become a homicide victim and 7.2 times as likely she would be a victim of homicide by a
spouse, intimate or close relative.[11]

Children are also seriously affected by gun violence in the home. Children who witness the
use or threat of a firearm exhibit greater behavioral problems than those who do not.[12]

1. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, The Structure of Family Violence: An Analysis of
Selected Incidents, 5.
2. Violence Policy Center, Facts on Firearms and Domestic Violence.
Centers for Disease Control.
(hereafter Injury Mortality Reports).
4. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Intimate Homicide, Office of
Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
5. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
6. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Intimate Homicide.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports.
10. Ibid.
11. James E. Bailey et. al., "Risk Factors for Violence Death of Women in the Home,"
Archives of Internal Medicine 157, no. 7, 777-782.(1997)
12. Ernest N. Jouriles et. al., "Knives, Guns, and Interparent Violence4: Relations
with Child Behavior Problems", Journal of Family Psychology 12, no. 2, 178-

Exercise: Open Discussion
        After reading and discussing the statistics about gun violence,
what are your thoughts? Go around the room and state your
position how big of a problem you think gun violence is. Be prepared
to back your position with well-grounded justifications. Saying, “I think
it is a small problem because I just don’t think it matters” won’t work.
You can’t justify an opinion with another opinion. You will need to
back your opinion with facts.

Homework: Week 2

Write about the ways in which gun violence has impacted
your life. If you don’t believe that gun violence has
impacted you personally, how do you think it has impacted
others? We will review your homework during the next group













































Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                   Facilitator Signature      Date

Session 3: The
Impact of Gun

Session 3: The Impact of Gun Violence
Objectives of today’s group:

  -   Warm-up/review group expectations
  -   Review homework from last week
  -   Develop an understanding of the impact of gun violence
  -   Set homework for next week
  -   Wrap Up

Levels of Gun Violence

  Gun violence impacts people in many different ways. Some are
  obvious; however, some are not that easy to see. Basically, gun
  violence can impact people directly on a personal level,
  indirectly on a personal level, on a family level, and on a
  community level.

           Direct, Personal Level: The person who was shot suffers.

           Indirect, Personal Level: People who know the person who
           was shot suffer. Friends and coworkers are examples of
           people who fall on this level.

          Family Level: The family members of the person who was
          shot suffer.

          Community Level: Members of the community in which
          the gun violence occurred suffer.

Impact of Gun Violence

There are also a number of different ways in which people at
different levels suffer as a result of gunshot wounds. They are:

  - Physical pain: This includes not only the pain endured shortly
    after being shot, but also on-going pain that often occurs
    among those who are shot. Sometimes, pain associated from
    gunshot wounds can last a lifetime. For example, damage
    occurring from a gunshot wound can leave the person with a
    condition called neuropathic pain, which leaves the victim with
    a constant sensation that feels like the affected part of the
    body is on fire. This is a result of nerve damage and is

  - Physical disability: Gunshot wounds, particularly those involving
    nerve damage, can permanently affect an individual’s ability
    to perform physical tasks that they once did with ease. The
    most obvious form of physical disability is paralysis. Paralysis
    occurs when nerve damage occurs in the spine, leaving the
    person unable to effectively use their legs, and in some cases,
    their arms or legs. Paralysis occurs to varying degrees. People
    may lose partial control or total control over a limb or limbs.

     Another type of physical disability is less visible. Usually, these
     are also the byproduct of nerve damage. For example, an
     individual may have total control over his or her arm, however
     he or she may be unable to feel anything in that arm. This
     creates a whole host of problems. For example, when you
     cannot feel your arm it is hard to track its movement. This
     creates awkward, inaccurate movements. Have you ever tried
     to eat while your mouth was still numb after having dental work
     done? Did you bite your tongue, or possibly your cheek? This is
     because you cannot feel your movements. If you cannot feel
     your movements, you cannot coordinate your movements. You
     cannot judge where your tongue is in relation to your teeth
     coming down, which results in you biting your tongue. Now,

  imagine trying to write without being able to feel you fingers,
  hand, or arm. How difficult would that be? What other types of
  physical disabilities may result from gunshot wounds?

- Having to go through medical procedures: When someone is
  shot, the bullet not only tears at flesh, it also liquefies the
  tissue lying along bullet’s path. This compounds the damage
  resulting from the bullet. Depending on where the bullet
  strikes and the path the bullet takes, the gunshot victim may
  have to go through a number of complicated medical
  procedures in an effort to either repair or minimize the effect
  of the damage. At the most basic level, the person may
  require surgery to repair the bullet hole, followed by
  hospitalization for observation and later by physical therapy.
  On a more severe level, the person may require multiple,
  complicated medical procedures. For example, if a gunshot
  victim receives damage to the lower intestine, he or she may
  need to have a portion of the organ removed. This creates
  problems with digestion, and in some cases may require the
  person to use a colostomy bag for the elimination of feces.
  Additionally, the person may have to go through a number
  of corrective surgeries to address on-going problems with his
  or her intestines.

  There a vast number of different medical complications that
  can arise from gunshot wounds. Likewise there are a vast
  number of different medical procedures that a person may
  require. What other medical complications and/or
  procedures are you aware of?

- Emotional pain and anguish: Gun violence has more than just a
  physical impact on the victim; it also has a mental impact.
  Each act of gun violence is a traumatic event that impacts
  people on many levels. Gunshot victims often experience
  symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Symptoms of this
  condition include increased anger, sensitivity to things or
  situations reminding the individual of the traumatic event, and

  fear. Difficulty sleeping, avoidance of certain people or places,
  and distressing thoughts and/or dreams are other symptoms.
  What might be some additional emotional reactions occurring
  on this level? What does being shot do to one’s ability to trust

  On an indirect, personal level and family levels, people may be
  left to morn the loss of loved ones. Additionally, they may be
  fearful of losing a loved one, or perhaps about being shot
  themselves. What might be some additional emotional
  reactions occurring on this level?

  On a community level, the community in general may be left
  living in fear. Overtime, people living in the community may
  also become numb to the violence. This is a natural reaction to
  living in dangerous situations. Typically, being in a dangerous
  situation for a brief period of time creates a brief, intense
  feeling of fear. Prolonged exposure to violence, however,
  creates a different reaction. People cannot live in a perpetual
  state of fear. Often times, it is easier for somebody to become
  numb to the fear than it is to change the level of danger in their
  neighborhood. This is a maladaptive outcome of living in a
  dangerous area. The level of danger still exists; however,
  people in the community have “normalized” the experience.
  Danger becomes an accepted, and even expected, part of
  everyday life.

  What are some other emotional effects of gun violence?

- Financial hardship: This refers to the financial impact of gun
  violence. On an individual level, there are the costs associated
  with medical bills stemming from treating gunshot wounds.
  There are also decreased earning potentials if the person
  becomes disabled as a result of his or her gunshot wound. This
  can also negatively impact members of the family, who may
  have to go without because of less money coming into the
  home. There are also costs on a community level. For example,

    the value of houses in a neighborhood where gun violence is
    frequent drop dramatically, as fewer people want to move into
    the neighborhood. Read “Economic Costs of Gun Violence”
    later in this chapter for more information on the financial
    hardships faced on a community level.

    Quality of life: Quality of life basically boils down to how
    much an individual is able to enjoy his or her life given the
    circumstances that he or she faces. Being paralyzed from
    the waist down has a negative impact on quality of life in a
    number of ways. The individual would be unable to do a
    number of things that he or she may have formerly enjoyed,
    such as playing basketball or riding bikes. He or she may also
    have a more difficult time getting around. Think of what all
    would be involved for a person in a wheel chair in order to
    leave his or her house, get into a car, drive to the mall, and
    then go shopping. What would be involved in going back
    home? What are some other ways in which gun violence
    can negatively impact a person’s quality of life? What about
    on a family or community level?

Exercise: Exploring the whole picture
    Read the article “My back! My back!”

    ‘My back! My back!’
    Girl, 7, critical but stable after shooting on Beaver St.
    By Janet Kelley And Chad Umble
    Lancaster New Era

    LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - The little girl and her mother stood frozen on the city
    street corner Thursday when a gun battle erupted around them. When the shooting
    stopped, 7-year-old Brianna Platt called to her mother, “My back! My back!’’

    Residents in the area of Beaver and Andrew streets heard the exchange of gunfire,
    followed by the mother’s cries.

    “She was screaming, ‘She’s dead. She’s dead!’ ’’ one neighbor said today.

    Neighbors called 911 and ambulance personnel rushed the child to the hospital.

She was taken to Hershey Medical Center, where she was listed in critical but stable
condition today, Mayor Rick Gray said.

This morning, Gray said he had to control his anger over such a senseless shooting that
injured an innocent child.

He said city police will make the case, and finding the culprit, a “top priority.’’
“Some tough guy shot a little girl in the back,’’ Gray said.

It was shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday when Brianna was walking with her mother to
Rivera’s corner store at Beaver and Andrew streets, near their home.

“All of the sudden someone started shooting,” the girl’s great-grandmother, Gladys
Conyers, said this morning.

The child “just stood there frozen,’’ Conyers said. “She didn’t know she got shot until
she told her mom, ‘My back! My back!’ ’’

“They saw the blood, that’s when they realized she got shot,’’ Conyers said. “They never
knew it...She just got in the way and got hit.”

Several neighbors said this morning they heard multiple gunshots, from different
sounding guns, which they believed indicated a fight between two groups.

Charles Hogan, 77, who lives near the grocery store, said he heard at least five gunshots
and saw the immediate aftermath.

“She had the baby laying there,’’ he said, “and she was screaming — I heard her —
‘She’s dead. She’s dead!’ ’’

According to a news release issued early Thursday evening, no arrests have been made
and there is no description of the suspect.

City police officials could not be reached for comment this morning.

Police and ambulances were dispatched to the 400 block of Beaver Street at 5:27 p.m.

Gray said he was told the child underwent surgery at Hershey Medical Center
Thursday night.

“When a tragedy like this occurs, you think of your own children and grandchildren,’’
Gray said.

“When an innocent like this is harmed, it shows the problem with too many guns,’’ he
added. “You pull that trigger, God only knows where it’s going to end.’’

On Thursday, Gray said, the bullet landed inside an innocent child.

“This is going to be the top priority,’’ Gray said. “We’re going to find who did this.’’

“Everybody was working last night,’’ Gray said, noting that all the detectives were called
in to investigate the case.

The mayor asked that anybody with information please contact police.

“Anything could help, even if they’re wrong or if they think it doesn’t mean anything,’’
Gray said, “it could be a break in the case.”

Anyone with information is asked to call city police at 735-3300. Callers can remain

“All you can do is say a prayer for this little girl and hope she is OK,” Gray said.

Hogan, an 8-year-resident of the block, said frequent neighborhood violence and drug
activity have gotten worse.

“Around here, it is nothing new. There’s always been shooting down here,” he said.

Another neighbor, who has small children, also heard the commotion.

“I thought it was a fight because that is common around here,” she said.

According to police records, there have been several robberies in that section of the city
in the past two weeks.

Gray acknowledged “there are problems in the neighborhood.’’

“But there are decent people who live there,’’ Gray quickly added, “and no one should
have to tolerate’’ such conditions.

Gray said he and Louise Williams, chairwoman of City Council’s Public Safety
Committee, were planning to go down to the neighborhood today and talk to the

“We’re going to let them know we’re interested,’’ he said.

Several neighbors, who asked not to be identified, say police often ignore the violence.
“It is not only yesterday, it is a lot of times and we’re calling and (the police) don’t do

They don’t pay attention,” one neighbor said.

Another neighbor, who recently moved to the area, said that despite the area’s reputation,
she was shocked by the shooting.

“It is obviously not the best neighborhood in town, but this is kinda scary,” she said.

     Talking Points:

        Discuss the different ways in which the gun violence reported
on in the article created problems on a direct, personal level for the
little girl.

      Discuss the different ways in which the gun violence reported
on in the article created problems on an indirect, personal level.

      If this happened to your sister, in what different ways would you
be impacted on a family level? What about for other members of
your family?

      Discuss the different ways in which the gun violence reported
on in the article created problems on a community level.

     What were your emotional reactions when you read the story?

More on the financial impact of gun violence


    Medical costs of gun violence put a terrible burden on health service providers and
    governments. When indirect costs of gun violence - loss of productivity, mental health
    treatment and rehabilitation, legal and judicial costs - are figured in, gun violence costs
    the US at least $100 billion annually.[1]

    Medical Costs
    In a recent study, the average costs for treating gunshot wounds were:

            - $22,400 each for unintentional shootings
            - $18,400 each for gun-assault injuries
            - $ 5,400 each for suicides.[2]

    Over the course of the lives of gunshot victims in the United States in 1997,
    medical treatment alone will amount to $1.9 billion.[3]

    Other Indirect Costs
    Along with direct medical costs, gun violence involves loss of productivity, mental health
    care, emergency transport, and insurance administration. A 1997 study estimated direct
    and indirect medical costs at:

            - $2.8 million per firearms fatality
            - $249,000 per hospitalization for gunshot wounds
            - $ 73,000 per emergency room visit and release for gunshot wounds.[4]

    With the cost of health skyrocketing, these costs are far higher today.

    The Los Angeles Times found in a 1994 shooting of a teenage victim who survived as a
    paraplegic that medical care, disability payments, rehabilitation, police and trial costs
    amounted to $1,091,768.[5] The Washington Post [6] and U.S. News and World Report
    [7] have both found total costs in similar cases to exceed $1 million.

    The Annual Bill To The Nation Annual costs of gun violence in the US have been
    estimated at between $100 billion [8] and $126 billion.[9]

    Costs only for young people under the age of 24 have reached $41 billion.[10]

    Who Pays?

            - Of $4 billion in medical costs in 1995, the public paid about 85 percent.[11]
            - Of victims hospitalized for gunshot wounds in California in 1996, 81 percent
            were uninsured.[12]

    1. Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, Gun Violence: The Real Costs. New York: Oxford
    University Press, 2000, 11.
    2. Ibid, 65.
    3. Ibid.

4. Ted R. Miller and Mark A. Cohen, "Costs of Gunshot and Cut/Stab Wounds in the
United States, With Some Canadian Comparisons", 29, Accident Analysis and Prevention
329 (1997), 329-41.
5. Bob Sipchen, "Putting a Price Tag on Violence", Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1994,
6. Allan Lengel, "The Price of Urban Violence: Bullet Shatters a Teen; Taxpayers Get the
Bill", Washington Post, December 28, 1997, B1.
7. Susan Headden, "Guns, Money & Medicine", U.S. News & World Report, July 1, 1996,
8. Cook and Ludwig, passim.
9. Miller and Cohen, passim.
10. Miller and Cohen.
11. Linda Gunderson, "The Financial Costs of Gun Violence", 131, Annals of Internal
Medicine 483 (1999).
12. Mary J. Vasser, et. al., "Hospitalizations for Firearm-Related Injuries", 275 JAMA
13. Brian J. Siebel, "City Lawsuits Against the Gun Industry: A Roadmap for Reforming
Industry Misconduct", St. Louis University Public Law Review, Vol. 18, no. 1 (1999).
14. Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, "Quantifying the Costs of Gun Violence", The Costs
of Gun Violence against Children.

Homework: Week 3
      Read each of the following stories. Pick one particular story to
write about for this homework assignment. The stories were retrieved
from Linking Victims with Change, at

     Story 1
                                   Jerome Herrington McBride

                                   On Friday, July 28th, 1995, I lost my son Jerome to
                                   gun violence. He was shot three times in the back.
                                   There were three different weapons, three different
                                   shooters, two of them minors. He was unarmed,
                                   outnumbered, and defenseless. He died alone; he
                                   was only 18 years old.

                                   What can I tell you about Jerome; you see his
                                   image before you but how can I make you know
                                   him as we knew him. We called him Jay. He had
      just recently graduated from High School. A short time before his death, he
      enlisted in the Marine Corps, he wanted to serve his country.

      Jay was bi-lingual; he spoke both French and German. He lived in Europe and
      Japan; and as a toddler, I called him my "Tiny World Traveler". He enjoyed a
      good breakfast, and he was a "Star Wars" fanatic!

      He was a child of the future and was truly amazed that he would live to see the
      year 2000. He would make me look up at the stars; he told me that people were
      too busy to stop and look up.

      I considered myself very lucky to be his mother. When I buried my Jay, I not
      only buried my son, I buried my friend and I miss him.

      But, Jay was not mine alone. His father describes him as a good son and a loyal
      friend. His baby brother, Kenneth, likes to remember the funny Stories he told on
      their long drives to and from school. His Grandmother remembers how quiet and
      well behaved he was, always seen but not heard. Jay often referred to his Aunt
      Debra as his role model but she recently confided in me that Jay was "her" role
      model. He and his cousin, Rodney, grew up together. They were not only
      cousins, they were "Best" friends.

      As you can see, he was truly our Angel, an angel lost to us because Cowards cut

 his life short.

 I cannot truly find the word to describe the pain and loss this careless,
 thoughtless act has caused our family.

 We were forced to bury our "Beloved" Jerome; because of the callous lack of
 arms control and easy access to weapons in this country, all of our hopes and
 dreams for Jay were destroyed.

 Patricia McBride-Thomas

 June-July 1999

 Story 2

Omar A. Soto
October 26, 1977 - January 21, 1988
A Rose in the Garden of Innocence

Omar was a loving, friendly, witty, sensitive child who
was full of life. He was much like his father that he
enjoyed making others laugh. He was our first born and
our pride and joy. Omar was an older brother to Ivan and
Nissha who both loved him very much. I remember
vividly when he would wake his dad up at 6:00 AM,
"Dad, wake up! It's time to go fishing!" They would go
fishing on the boat and return home very happy, having
caught the "big one". I remember his playing baseball and
all of us cheering him on as well as sitting in the back
seats, watching him learn Karate. These are only some of
the beautiful memories we have of our beloved son,

On January 21, 1988, our lives were shattered forever. After coming home from
school, Omar went to ride his bicycle with his friend. They decided to go to a
friends home and ask if the friend could come out and play. The 13-year-old was
home, unsupervised, with his two sisters, 9 and 11 years-old respectively, when
he invited Omar and his friend inside. The 13-year-old decided to bring down his
father's loaded .357 magnum to "show off". He cocked the gun. Trying to uncock
the gun, it went off, hitting Omar in the head. Omar later died in the hospital.

The gun that was used to kill my son was not unloaded and securely locked. It
didn't have a trigger lock and was left in a closet accessible to a 13-year-old. I can

assure you that it is a horrifying and shocking experience to learn that your
beloved son has been shot to death only hours after telling him "I love you" and
dropping him off to school.

Omar was an innocent child who was deprived of his future and his dreams
because a .357 magnum was left accessible to a child by an irresponsible gun
owner. We will never see Omar off on his first date, applaud as he accepts his
high school diploma, marry and have a family. Those precious moments will
never be ours.

Grief is helplessly watching your six-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son
writing letters to you asking "Why?" "Why did God take him from us? If we
don't behave, will this happen to us, too?" Grief is having to carry an
indescribable pain and wound in your heart for the rest of your life. All you
have is the memories that you hold dear-you pray to God that your memories
do not disappear.

I became very depressed for many months and visited my son's grave daily. I
was grieving the loss of my son, but at the same time, I was also outraged
because of the negligence and irresponsibility of an adult was the cause of my
son's death. A loaded gun was left accessible to a child. I felt strongly that the
adult should be held criminally responsible for Omar's death. After visiting
the library, I found that there were no such laws. I visited the State's
Attorney's Office many times, but they did not want to press charges against
the 13-year-old who had killed my son.

My beloved son's life appeared to be unimportant and forgotten by everyone.
Omar was about to become just another number in the statistics of children
killed by guns. We promised this would not happen.

I decided to do something about it. In April of 1989, I got involved with a bill
introduced by Rep. Harry Jennings of Sarasota, Florida that would hold gun
owners criminally responsible for leaving loaded guns accessible to children.
Rep. Jennings was having great difficulty in obtaining the votes necessary to
make this law. My husband and I circulated petitions and collected signatures.
These were sent to representatives that did not agree with the bill. I testified
before the Criminal Justice Committee. The NRA, of course, was against the
bill because it "prevented citizens from the right to firearms protection."
Despite the objections of the NRA, the law passed. It became effective
October 1, 1989. It was the first Gun Responsibility law passed in this
country. Fourteen states now have some form of gun responsibility law. The
13-year-old was found guilty of manslaughter. My family was able to have
some closure.

My involvement with gun violence prevention continued and I became a Board
member of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, based in Washington, D.C.

and chaired by Sarah Brady. We made Public Service Announcements and was
involved in the STAR curriculum for gun violence prevention in the schools.

I urge everyone to become involved with Brady Campaign, Inc. and the Center to
Prevent Handgun Violence and make a difference. These are the only
organizations that are active in passing sensible gun controls laws that will benefit
our nation and our children. Our main objective should be to save lives and
protect our children. If but one human life is saved, then gun control and gun
responsibility laws are worth the time and effort. Each human being and life is a
rare gift to mankind, irreplaceable and priceless. A human life cannot be
substituted or replaced. I thought this type of tragedy could never happen to me or
my family, but it did. In the same manner, it could happen to your child or
grandchild when he goes out to play.

When Omar's fifth grade teacher brought us a white rose the class had placed on
Omar's desk in the classroom, I knew my son was a Rose in the Garden of
Innocence and now he is an Angel in Heaven's Paradise

Story 3

Mark Chilutti

Six years after fully recovering from brain injury,
broken bones and severe burns inflicted by a drunk
driver I opened M and M Jewelers not far from my
home in Northeast Philadelphia. It was a dream come

Hard work, determination and good luck were all
factors contributing to the success of the store. Shortly
after opening in the spring of 1994 my store became a
frequent destination for people to shop for their loved

I always lived my life as a goal oriented person. I
constantly reached for the stars and loved working hard
so that I could afford the luxuries in life. A Lexus, a
house, and a new Rolex watch...the rewards were just starting to come my way.
My next goal was well within my reach. It was to make $100,000 by my thirtieth
birthday. Man, life was great!

We are always taught that it is impossible to prepare for the unexpected, so when
I walked around the corner to my store on December 5, 1996 I never imagined
that would be the last time I would walk. But, in the course of a terrifying 8 1/2
minute experience later that morning my life was changed forever.

I had a busy morning with the holiday quickly approaching. Suddenly after a
short break in the action I greeted a customer as he walked in. Quickly behind
him a man pulled a gun and pointed it right at me. My role suddenly changed
from jewelry salesman to a cooperative victim in a robbery. I had a gun
myself, but with his gun pointed 12 short inches from my chest the
opportunity never presented itself for me to reach for it. I had always said in
my mind that the jewelry in the store had insurance; my life did not. I was not
thinking of being a hero, but of being a survivor.

"Take whatever you want" I quickly told him in a very scared voice. "Please
don't hurt me" I begged. They emptied out the safe in the back of the store
which was filled with diamond jewelry. Next, they took my three week old
Rolex watch as well as the other jewelry I was wearing proudly. They began
to argue and disagree with each other. Suddenly BANG. I GOT SHOT!

Yes, you read that right; I GOT SHOT! I knew as soon as I tried to move that
I had lost my legs. I never imagined at that point how much more they took
from me. My dreams were suddenly stolen by 2 guys who probably never had

A 51 year old career criminal had just shot me in my chest. He had only been
out of prison for four months! As if that was not bad enough, I now had to lay
there on the floor while I listened to them break the showcases and steal more

After they left the store I struggled to pull myself to another room and pull a
panic button to notify the alarm company, and in turn the police, that I was in
trouble. It only took 2 minutes for the police to arrive, but at that point in my
life it was 2 minutes that seemed like an eternity!

I quickly learned that I was a T-5 paraplegic, with no movement, feeling or
control from my chest down.

I chose to accept what happened to me immediately and rather than focus on
what I lost, to concentrate on what I still had; my arms and my brain. My old
goal of making a lot of money was quickly replaced by a goal of being able to
tie my shoes by myself. Quite a change!!! I had to close my store to focus on
the challenges that would lie ahead and getting back to being ME!

I was always in good physical shape, but had never lifted weights before. Dr.
Staas, who I was lucky to receive as my doctor, quickly taught me that my
shoulder was now my hip, my elbow was now my knee, and my hands were now
my feet. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. I had to count on those parts
to survive and make them the strongest that I could. Everyday I continue to work
on strengthening and making the most out of what still works, so that I can be
totally independent.

     My quick acceptance allowed my family and friends to deal with it as well. The
     outpouring of support and love from them and the entire community are things I
     will never forget. I consider myself very fortunate to have such a wonderful group
     of friends who look at me today and know that I am the same person; I am just
     sitting down.

     As for me, I have a new goals, which include enjoying life to the fullest; even if it
     is in a wheelchair. I hope and try to bring as much positive out of my misfortune
     as possible. I do this by working with newly injured patients back at Magee
     Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia to help them adjust. I also do a lot of
     public speaking in schools as a part of a program called "Think First" which tries
     to get kids to think before they get involved in situations that could cause
     permanent injuries. People need to realize and accept the fact that guns do not
     solve problems; they create them!

     I also like to take advantage of every opportunity I can to share my story with
     others. I have testified before the Philadelphia City Council, at town meetings,
     done television interviews and stories with Fox News, CNN and the Montel
     williams show just to name a few. I have been involved with efforts and events
     sponsored by the National center for Handgun Violence also.

     I can't rewind the clock and change what happened to me, but, if through my
     efforts and outreach I can prevent it from happening to someone else I will
     achieved a goal with much more satisfaction than any amount of money I could
     have ever earned.

     Don't give up. Stand up and help the cause to end handgun violence. It will only
     help to create a better world for us, and those who follow us.

Which story did you choose? _____________________________________

What type of gun violence was committed? ______________________


What was the impact of the gun violence on a direct, personal
















What was the impact of the gun violence on an indirect, personal
















What was the impact of the gun violence on the family level?

















What was the impact of the gun violence on the community level?















Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                   Facilitator Signature      Date

Session 4: More
   on Victim

Session 4: More on Victim Impact
  -   Warm-up/review group expectations
  -   Review homework from last week
  -   Further explore the impact of gun violence
  -   Set homework for next week
  -   Wrap Up!

Who are the victims of gun Violence?

When we think of the victims of gun violence, we initially think of the
many who are injured and killed by guns every day. The effects of
gun violence cross all socioeconomic and geographic boundaries
from inner cities to rural communities. Gun violence victims are
young and old, male and female, and come from all races;
although gun homicide victims are predominantly young males.

When we look further, we see not only these direct victims, but also
the large number of secondary or indirect victims. These are the
parents, children, siblings, friends, and others who have lost a loved
one to gun violence. These people may be responsible to deal with
many loose ends after the death of their loved one. Some of the
things they may be forced to deal with are:

      • Law enforcement – investigation of the shooting
      • Medical examiners
      • Press/Media
      • Court System – could be a long drawn out process until they
        see their loved ones killer brought to justice
      • Clean up the Crime Scene- the victim might have been shot
        on their own front porch
      • Pay Victims Medical Bills
      • Arrange for Burial and Pay Funeral Costs

What other things may the family and friends of a direct victim have
to deal with?

Read the article “Severed Lives”

     Severed Lives
     What, then for those who loved them?
     By April Saul
     Inquirer Staff Writer

     APRIL SAUL / Inquirer
     Comforted by his friends, Diane Adams makes her monthly visit to the yet-unmarked
     grave of her son Kareek. He was 16.

     Diane Adams coaxes three of her son's friends toward his still-unmarked grave at
     Philadelphia's Greenmount Cemetery. Would they like, she asks softly, to tell him
     I love you, dog.
     You was like a brother to me.
     We love you, Kareek. Rest in peace.
     This visit last month, which began with a prayer circle, has not gone badly.
     Kareek's cousin Larry, who had been dragged from the grave sobbing on other visits
     since the August murder, is only weeping quietly today. Before disbanding, the visitors
     manage to smile as they listen to Kareek's rap music, saved on their cell phones.
     Which is ironic, because it was a rap contest, Diane Adams says, that started the
     argument between Kareek, 16, and the 18-year-old being sought in the fatal Frankford
     "My son loved to rap and challenge people," Adams says. "I told him, 'I want you to stop
     battling, because some people can't handle things.' The grudge came in because my son
     beat him rapping... and one thing led to another."
     Kareek Adams was one of 24 young people - ages 3 to 17 - who were killed by gunfire
     this year in the eight-county Philadelphia region.

Nearly half appear to have been killed mistakenly - in gun accidents or by assailants
aiming at others.
Almost all the rest were shot because of jealousy or perceived disrespect, or disputes
over turf, drugs or girls.
"Is it just expected for the children to kill each other with guns?" asks Israe Gilliard. In
July, her nephew Jarrett Gore, 15, was preparing to settle an argument with fists when he
was shot by an acquaintance.
Long after rain washes the blood from the sidewalks of the city, after kids are placed in
their coffins, and after T-shirts dedicated to the memory of "Mook" and "Goub" and
"Gussie" are tucked away in dresser drawers - what, then, for those who loved them?
The haunted
For weeks now, Adams has haunted the El like a ghost, using her cell phone to
photograph strangers who look like the mug shot of the man police think killed her son.
The other day in the grocery store, she was sure she saw the gunman. She got so close
and stared so hard that when she finally realized it wasn't him, she lied and told him she
thought they had once dated.
"Maybe one day," she says hopefully, "I'll look up and snap the right picture."
Diane Adams doesn't just call homicide detectives every day. "I pray every night," she
says, "that God will help them find the guy that killed my son."
In Philadelphia, there have been no warrants or arrests in a third of the cases.
Lawanda Welton's son Tariq Blue Jr., 14, was gunned down at a South Philadelphia
recreation center in March; police have not found his killer.
"I trust no kids," she says, "because this same child who's going to walk up to me and be
smiling in my face could be the same child that pulled the trigger and killed my son."
With no arrest in the April slaying of her son, Vincent, 17, in a Northeast Philadelphia
drug house, Donna Thomas believes she has been followed. Her daughter has been
jumped. "I'm always looking over my shoulder," she says. "I feel like a sitting duck."
The family of 17-year-old Robert Pierson III is as frustrated as it is frightened. Although
the teen who allegedly shot and killed Pierson in the spring is in jail awaiting trial, five
other youths who had set out to rob people in Fairmount with him are not, with most
charges dropped.
Recently, a kid from another neighborhood pointed a gun at Pierson's younger sister,
Monica, 14, who is slated to testify in the trial. Was it a random attempt to start trouble, or
friends of the accused trying to intimidate a witness?
When two teens robbed Robert's other sister, 19-year-old Lauren, in September, she was
"more mad than upset." She refused to give up her purse until one youth suggested they
shoot her; then, when the boy with the gun fled, she chased the other, who had taken the
bag. She asked him to give her back something - anything - from the purse. "I said,
'Really, my brother just died. I don't need this!' "
But he refused.
Some survivors have plunged into their jobs. Some are on antidepressants or so
paralyzed, they miss months of work.
Donna Thomas is "going through the motions" - barely able to eat and sleep, much less
pick up her son's belongings at the morgue.

Others have found their voices in tragedy. When no witnesses came forward to identify
her son's assailant, Lawanda Welton spoke out repeatedly on television and at
community events.
"That's not me," she says. Under normal circumstances, "I shy away... but my son needs
justice." Even though the case is unsolved eight months later, Welton won't stop. "Believe
me," she says, "I'll be back on the news again."
When Chelena Hammond, whose son, Raphael Glee, was shot in North Philadelphia,
demonstrated for stronger gun laws in Harrisburg, she placed a packet in the mailbox of
every state legislator. The envelopes contained accounts of his death - two days before
his 18th birthday - and autopsy photos "so they could actually see it."
"I don't know what else we could do," she says. "They need to find out how it's so easy
for someone so young to get a gun."
Hammond does have one consolation: an arrest. "I do feel blessed," she says, "that they
have my son's murderer."
The empty desk
It took a couple of weeks for someone to tell Nache Rennick she was sitting at the dead
boy's desk.
New to the school, the 17-year-old had no idea the chair had been occupied for the
previous two years by Terrence Adams, killed in August by a drug dealer who police say
was trying to rob people.
Martel Davis, another senior at the Parkway Northwest School for Peace and Social
Justice, finally told her:
"I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but the seat you're sitting in was Terrence's, and if it
wasn't a problem for you, you could move."
The horrified girl changed her seat, and the small classroom was transformed.
"After that," Martel says, "everybody just started looking at the seat and remembering that
he wasn't coming back, and then everybody started getting emotional."
Not all the students were comfortable with the outpouring. "Some people thought, 'Get
over it. Don't keep bringing it up,' " says Nifia Medley, 18. "Other people felt, 'Bring it up,
because that's what I need to get over it. It'll soothe my heart.' "
It also moved many of them to take action, joining the march in Harrisburg and plunging
into projects against violence.
For Martel, who visits Terrence's sister Tasha "to let her know I'm still here for her," a
cherished friend is gone. "You can never be the same after that," he says. "Sometimes I
need to laugh, but it's hard because you're not laughing with all the people you're used
to. You're missing this one laugh."
It's also a reminder of the world they inhabit, where the smallest slights can bring on
"Our generation," says Martel, 17, "lives from TV, what they see, what they hear, what
they think is cool. And that's being a gangster, being a hood, having street credibility."
He and his classmates say that, in Philadelphia, being in a neighborhood not your own
can make you a target - and that's just the beginning.
"I'll fight if I feel threatened, but not over stupid stuff, like a girl, or an argument, or
somebody's sneakers," Martel says.
Since Terrence's death, he's loath to do battle at all, "because you don't know what the
other person's going to do."

Nifia, too, is amazed at the ease with which her peers shoot each other. "Back in the
day," she says, "drugs were the reason for everything. But it's not even about drugs now;
it's about the dumbest things ever."
Fury and forgiveness
Augustus Favors wasn't worried about Gussie and guns.
"I talked to my son about drugs, about smoking, about getting high," the father says sadly
of his 15-year old, killed in a gun accident in Northeast Philadelphia in February.
"I didn't think I had to talk to him about guns."
Gussie Favors was at Sadir Reddy's house that day with Evens Occean, and the three
friends were about to go shopping downtown.
According to court testimony, Sadir, 16, had been showing off his prized .380
semiautomatic for weeks. The question was: Who would carry the gun to the Gallery?
Gussie volunteered because he had the biggest coat. He started "twirling" the weapon - a
weapon shared so often among the friends that during Sadir's trial it was referred to at
least once as "a community gun."
According to Evens, Sadir had taken the pistol back to adjust the safety when the gun
fired into Gussie's chest.
Gussie's dad doesn't buy it. "I think he meant to do it," Augustus Favors says of Sadir,
although he acknowledges that "if that was my son that shot him, I might be thinking a
different story."
Immediately after the shooting, Sadir called 911 to say a mysterious gunman had shot
Gussie. Then he ran from the scene where his friend lay dying.
"His lack of character, integrity and basic decency could not be clearer," said Common
Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner, adding at one point: "And I don't care that there are other
idiots who wanted to carry his gun!"
Moments after the judge convicted Sadir of involuntary manslaughter, Gussie's and
Sadir's loved ones brawled fiercely outside the Criminal Justice Center.
Epithets and bodies flew across the pavement until the guards, who see this all the time,
shooed them home.
Tanya Bullock's son Jarred, 16, died at the hands of best friend William Leon in May
while the two were playing with guns. She was just as surprised as Favors that her son
would be interested in weapons.
But she is as forgiving as Augustus Favors is furious.
"In a million years," says Tanya Bullock, "nobody could ever make me think he meant it.
They were like brothers. If God could forgive me, who am I not to forgive William?"
William Leon, 15, had taken two guns from his uncle's collection to his buddy's Northeast
home to show him. "But Jarred had a gun in his hand as well," his mother says. "It could
just as easily have been his gun that went off."
Prosecutors initially pushed for first-degree murder, then backed off to third-degree. It
couldn't have helped their case that, at a preliminary hearing, both boys' families sat
together - on the defendant's side of the courtroom.
William Leon did as much as Sadir Reddy to make himself look guilty. Prosecutors say
William warned a third boy - who was in the bathroom at the time of the shooting - not to
snitch, and even dragged Jarred's bleeding body into the alley behind the house.

Yet Bullock, who credits the Leons - "a really nice, Christian family" - with helping to raise
Jarred, thinks she knows why.
"He's a child," Bullock says of her son's killer. "I would panic, too."
Dreams of escape
Terrell Anderson, 16, pleaded with his mother, Angel, to get him out of their South
Philadelphia neighborhood. But like so many other frightened families, they had nowhere
to go.
Terrell was terrified even before a teen, apparently gunning for him, fired three bullets
into his 17-year-old brother, Christopher, outside the family home at South 21st and Sigel
in April.
"I'm sorry, that's not him," the young shooter blurted to a shocked Angel Anderson before
running away.
His family says that after a dispute over a girl, Terrell had bested his nemesis in a fistfight
- more than enough to get you killed in this part of town.
After Christopher was wounded, Angel told her boys that they couldn't go anywhere for
the next two years.
Four days later, Terrell was told the feud was off. Elated, he went to meet friends and
was gunned down within hours.
A grieving Angel Anderson still dreamed of moving - maybe to New Zealand, where she
imagined her family on a farm. Or Chestnut Hill.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority offered her 44th and Brown. "Why move," she asks,
"from one war zone to another?"
In October, Kyle Brown, 17 - Christopher's close friend, who lived four doors down - was
gunned down while hanging out with friends. Kyle's older brother had been killed in May.
Chris fled to another part of the city, moving into his girlfriend's house.
Lawanda Welton, whose son was gunned down in nearby Point Breeze, says, "It's a
disaster. I'm leaving South Philly. They can have it."
She wants to tell the kids, "You're all killing each other, but the neighborhood will still be
here. You'll be dead or in jail for trying to claim a corner, a corner that's always going to
Some parents manage to leave a rough part of town, then lose their children anyway.
Two families moved to Lansdowne - from Frankford and West Philadelphia - only to see
sons killed this year visiting friends in their old neighborhoods.
Chelena Hammond moved from North Philadelphia to "a nice section of Olney" last year
to try to keep her son, Raphael Glee, safe. She really worried in the summer when he
couldn't find a job; she kept calling his cell phone to check on him.
Her efforts failed. He was gunned down on a Saturday afternoon in August near his old
turf at 25th and Cecil B. Moore.
"If you don't take them out of the neighborhood while they're young," Hammond says, "it's
not going to work... . He was already 16, and all he knew was North Philly. I think it was
pretty much too late."
The names of the dead children are spray-painted on walls, tattooed on their mothers'
arms, and ironed onto T-shirts, tote bags and jackets.

     "I don't want my son's name to ever die," says Darcell Winn; her Darnell was killed by an
     assailant who says he was aiming at someone else.
     At least two of the victims - Scott Sheridan, killed in Chester County, and Yagouba Bah of
     Olney - have elaborate Web sites where hundreds of classmates share memories.
     Terrence Adams' family plans to set up an art scholarship in his name, and a scholarship
     has been established at Cardinal O'Hara High School in memory of Scott Sheridan.
     After Angela Burke's 16-year-old son, Shadeed, was shot in the family's Camden home,
     she and her husband, Johnny Strong, took solace in his baby - until DNA test results
     arrived after the funeral.
     "We found out he wasn't my grandson," Burke says sadly. "That was a big blow there.
     But I see him and treat him like he was."
     Yet nobody can deny the brutal, bloody, bottom line that Chelena Hammond, mother of
     Raphael Glee, says "hurts your soul."
     "I will never, ever see his smile again," Diane Adams says of her son, Kareek.
     "I will never, ever hear him say, 'Mom, you're a weirdo' because I like to watch the Animal
     The 2006 Toll
     This year, 24 children and teenagers 17 or younger have been killed by guns in the eight-
     county region.
     22 were killed in Philadelphia - two more than last year.
     All but two were between 14 and 17 years old. The others were 3 and 5.
     All but three were black; all but one were male.

Talking Points

What are your thoughts on this story?

Discuss the different impacts of the gun violence across each of the
levels described in this article.

Read the Following Story

     Living, dying in Phila.'s 'Iraq'
     A mother is shot to death, and a community is torn.
     By Robert Moran
     Inquirer Staff Writer
     One in an occasional series.

Emily Jackson, 48, mother of two, wore a crisp, cream-colored pantsuit, a diamond-
pendant necklace, and a diamond-pendant bracelet. Her body rested in a steel, copper-
colored casket.
As the immediate family gathered for one last, private viewing, a handkerchief was
placed over Jackson's face. Overcome by the moment, her daughter, Aqueelah, 24,
collapsed to the church floor.
Five days earlier, Emily Jackson had just walked her aunt to the Route 13 trolley stop
when a gray minivan drove down the 2000 block of South 60th Street in Southwest
Philadelphia. A gunman in the van sprayed the sidewalk with bullets, hitting four people,
Jackson among them. She died early the next morning.
The night Jackson was shot, Monday, July 10, two others were murdered in Philadelphia
- all in a half-hour span.
The day she was buried, Saturday, July 15, five more people were slain.
Yesterday, the city recorded its 219th homicide - 18 more than the same time last year.
Police officials acknowledge that homicide detectives are overwhelmed by the deluge of
"There's so many homicides in Philadelphia, there ain't no way they can cover each
case," said Naji Muhammad, 47, Jackson's ex-husband, outside the funeral service at
New Fellowship Baptist Church on Woodlawn Avenue. "So we need to help."
On Tuesday, Muhammad walked the neighborhood where Jackson was killed. Since late
April, two other people have been killed in the immediate neighborhood.
Muhammad, dressed in a dark suit and bow-tie and sweating profusely from the
punishing midday sun, visited Upland Street, one block from where Jackson lived in a
second-story apartment on Greenway Avenue.
There were more vacant lots than standing houses in the 6000 block of Upland. What's
left was either burned out, abandoned, or patched up just enough to remain habitable.
"IRAQ" was prominently spray-painted on some of the buildings. At one abandoned
house, a makeshift memorial remained for Terrell Pratt, 18, shot multiple times in the
head on April 28 as he sat inside a Chevrolet Lumina nearby. "Rell," as he was known,
was scrawled on a boarded-up window, as was "Iraq Soldier 4 Life" (with soldier
"Why do they call it Iraq?" Muhammad asked Danielle Carter, 35, the captain of what's
left of the block.
"It looks like somebody dropped a bomb on it," she said.
Bewildered but undeterred by the scene, Muhammad explained that he was gathering
men to go door to door in the area today at 5:30 p.m. starting at 60th and Greenway to
ask questions about Emily Jackson's murder.
"We're going to be investigators," he said. There has been no arrest in the case. He
asked her to get the word out. "I sure will," she promised.
"All the men getting together," he vowed. "Pen and pad."

The neighborhood is in the 12th Police District, the most violent in the city, with 93
shooting victims in the first half of the year - 94 percent more than the same period last
The police captain of the 12th, Khalid Syed, did not respond to a request for an interview
about the violence in his district.

Mike Chitwood, once a top detective in Southwest Philadelphia and now the police chief
in Daytona Beach, Fla., said the 12th is one of the busiest districts each year, with a
disproportionate number of 911 calls relative to the population.
"They have 60,000 residents and 120,000 calls for [police] service," Chitwood said.
The district also has "one of the most - if not the most - economically depressed areas of
the city," Chitwood said. "It's a trap."
But some struggle and succeed, like Danielle Carter, who has lived most of her life on
Upland Street. Her oldest son now attends Pennsylvania State University's Reading
campus. Her oldest daughter has an interview scheduled for August at Penn State's main
campus in State College.
"You just have to ride them," she said of her seven children. "You can't let peer pressure
take them."
When Terrell Pratt was murdered, Carter let her 15-year-old son stand on the porch and
watch as police processed the scene.
"This is the reason you have to be inside the house," she told him.
Pratt was an uncle of Erica Pratt, the little girl who captured national attention in 2002
when she was kidnapped from the neighborhood but made a daring escape.
Another uncle, Joseph Pratt Jr., 25, had been shot to death earlier that year while sitting
in a car - just as his younger brother was this year - at 56th and Woodland. He had been
facing an attempted-murder charge at the time.
At Terrell Pratt's shrine of stuffed animals and empty liquor bottles, someone wrote the
"THE GOOD DIE young so they Can Get 2 HEAVEN Early so they can watch over the
rest of the Slums."

"Emy" Jackson was a beloved figure in her neighborhood.
"She was a people person," said her mother, June Henry, 66, who lives across the street
from her daughter's apartment.
Jackson worked at a group home for the mentally retarded in Delaware County until she
hurt her back several years ago.
She stayed busy, however, being a foster mother and helping neighbors.
It was late that Monday night when Jackson's aunt, visiting from North Philadelphia, was
ready to take the trolley back to Center City. That meant walking up 60th Street past
Upland and Reinhard. Jackson walked with her to the trolley stop. On the way back, she
ran into her daughter, Aqueelah, and they started to talk.
The police call came in at 11:21 p.m. The bullet had pierced Jackson's upper left arm and
penetrated her chest. She staggered to the last house on 60th before Greenway.
Her mother and other family members rushed out to find her lying on the steps.
"Don't leave! Keep your eyes open! Keep your eyes open!" Henry pleaded to her
"Her eyes were open," Henry recalled. "She was bleeding from the mouth. We kept
talking to her and talking to her, but she never said anything."
She was transported by medics to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and
pronounced dead at 2:13 a.m.

     She won't see me graduate from college. She won't see my children.
     At Fernwood Cemetery in Delaware County, Muhammad could barely hear Aqueelah, still
     recovering from fainting in church, as she lamented in a weak, cracking voice about the
     loss of her mother.
     The family then placed yellow, white and red flowers on the casket and said goodbye.

Talking Points

What are your thoughts on this story?

How would you feel if this were your mother?

Discuss the different impacts of the gun violence across each
of the levels described in this article.

Read the next article

     The young don't want to die.

     They fight against the blood spilling from their bodies, the oxygen draining from their lungs. They
     will twist and shout and beg someone - any of these strangers surrounding them - to save their

     Amy Goldberg, chief trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital, knows this. She has seen it,
     dozens of times, usually young black men struck down on the city's streets.

     So it was on a recent winter night when police rushed in with an 18-year-old who had been shot
     once in the chest. His arms and legs flailed wildly as a team of doctors and nurses struggled to
     undress him and hold him down. He kept lifting his head, looking around wildly and trying to bite,
     despite one nurse's efforts to keep him still. His appearance didn't seem that dire: only a small
     amount of blood showed on his shirt and chest. There was no exit wound through his back.

     His shouts were often unintelligible - sounding like, "no" and "stop" and "let me go" - but then he
     repeated one sentence in a clear voice: "I don't want to die."

     Goldberg, 44, was in the middle of it, against the gurney and between the half-dozen doctors and
     nurses passing syringes, tubes and IV bottles over it. She was easy to miss, just pushing 5 feet, 2
     inches tall, looking more like an intern or medical student than a veteran surgeon.

There was no doubt that she was in control here, instructing her team in a low, matter-of-fact, take-
no-prisoners tone: "Pulse, pulse, pulse," she instructed repeatedly. "Put a line in," she told a
surgical resident. "The blood. Where's the blood?" she asked the room in general.

To the 18-year-old, whose struggles were lessening, she was more gentle. She placed a firm hand
atop his head and said the words he needed to hear, "We're going to take good care of you. You're
not going to die."

Surgery was critical

The 18-year-old, now strapped down and sedated in the emergency room, had been shot in the left
side. Goldberg likes to say that what you do in practice is what you do in the game, and she and
her team proceeded calmly, yet briskly, practiced from previous experiences. Breathing tube in.
Fluids flowing. X-rays taken.

On the film, it appeared that the bullet had pierced the young man's heart.

The most impressive cases - at least to nondoctors - seem to be the ones that involve the heart,
Goldberg said. Not because they're the most difficult, she explained, "but because it's the heart."
There is awe surrounding the body's blood-pumping center, the symbolic holding place of emotion.
One's heart can be damaged by so many things: love, loss, a bullet.

If the teen's heart was damaged, things would be bad, but not necessarily deadly: Once, Goldberg
said, she treated a patient who had two bullet holes in his heart. She sewed one wound, another
surgeon handled the other, and the man pulled through.

"The guy lived," she said, still marveling.

What was worse for this teenager on this night, further examination found, was the blood pooling in
his chest. There had been no outward sign that it was gushing so. Its existence was discovered
only when a chest tube was inserted.

Surgery was needed. Immediately. Goldberg's team - two residents and a medical student - took
hold of the gurney and hurried out the door.

"Don't run down the hall," she called after them, cognizant of the tubes, the breathing machines, the
bystanders. "Don't run."

Minutes later, they had reached the operating room. The teenager's heart had stopped.

A lecture is guaranteed

While doing a trauma fellowship in Baltimore 14 years ago, Goldberg was in the ER when a 16-
year-old boy came in with a gunshot wound to the stomach. He died in front of her eyes.

But then the doctors resuscitated him. Using everything she had learned and every skill she had,
Goldberg was part of the team that saved the boy's life.

A month later, she saw him again in the hospital's outpatient clinic. And the reality set in.

"It occurred to me this wonderful operation I had done was so inconsequential because what was
this kid's life expectancy? He wouldn't live to be 20, 25, 30," she said. "I don't think I've forgotten

"We can take care of them medically, but what kind of influence do we have on them when they
leave?" she asked. "We have to get this to stop."

If this 18-year-old survived the night, he would likely receive one of Goldberg's patented lectures in
the morning. Colleagues say there is nothing like seeing Goldberg stomping her size-5 foot and
waving a finger in the face of those who are towering over her, warning them that she never wants
to see them in her clinic as patients again. She'll tell them about Temple's outreach programs and
where to get help dealing with drug and alcohol problems, even take them to the morgue if she
thinks it will have an effect.

The response from many of the patients is surprising: Even those who scowl seem to appreciate
the attention.

"For the most part, the patients are happy that somebody has noted and cared to say something,"
Goldberg said. "A lot of these patients are now given a second lease, and they probably know it,
but by having this conversation and dialogue with them, it is now out there. And now it's up to them
to do something with that second lease."

Some of them - too many of them - don't do anything with that second chance. Or that third chance.

Goldberg recalls one teenager who survived his first gunshot - a chest wound - but barely. His
second gunshot wound severed a major artery and he almost bled to death - but he pulled through.
The third time he was shot, the bullet struck his head. He didn't survive.

She had one patient, also shot in the chest and near death, who somehow lived and was sent
home to recover. A month later, he was back again. Shot again.

"I said 'Listen, you get shot again and the next time you're going to die,' " she said. "They don't get
it that death is a permanent thing. They don't see that on TV. They don't see that on the streets,
where their friends get shot and are OK."

'You can stop now'

The 18-year-old lay on a table in the middle of the operating room, the only still body in a room
whirling with people: nurses monitoring his pulse and blood pressure and handing over
instruments, doctors cutting open the young man's chest and using an instrument similar to a car
jack to keep it open.

His breathing, controlled by machines, was steady and slow, his pale lungs expanding and
contracting in full view, his heart squeezed between them.

"We need as much blood as you can give him," Goldberg said. "We need more blood, more blood."

So much was happening, but time seemed to go so slowly. The doctors tried to stop the blood
gushing into the boy's chest, suctioning it out and soaking it up with cloths. They alternatively took
turns compressing the teenager's heart in their hands, willing it to fill up and start again.

Goldberg reached her red-smeared, white-gloved hands into the chest cavity and pulled out a
small, bloody piece of metal.

"This is for the police," she said, holding it up briefly. "It's the bullet."

She tossed it to the end of the operating table, near the boy's bare feet.

"Oh, my God; oh, my God," one nurse said, staring at the bullet before another took it away. "He
looks so young."

The teenager's body was still, unresponsive, but the doctors kept working. Goldberg never left the
young man's side. She said his heart was cold so another physician poured warm saline on it.
Goldberg supervised as they clamped the aorta to affect the blood flow. Her calls for blood were
constant, and the medical staff poured unit after unit of fresh blood into the teenager's body. Nurses
squeezed blood-soaked gauze-like sponges so the vital fluid could be used again.

Nothing seemed to help.

Goldberg called for the paddles to shock his heart, and the doctors took turns holding the lifeless
organ within the metal prongs while the others stood clear. They did this once, twice, five, 10,
eventually 12 times. No reaction. They injected the stimulant epinephrine straight into his heart
muscle. It didn't flinch.

"You can stop now," Goldberg said. "We're going to have to call it."

She said it quietly, but everyone seemed to hear. One nurse walked out of the room. Everyone else
kept working - counting sponges, putting away equipment, examining the open wound to determine
what had gone wrong. The machines kept whirring and beeping.

Roughly an hour and a half after the teenager had arrived at the hospital, kicking and screaming, it
was over. His heart, as it turned out, hadn't been damaged by the bullet at all. Instead, the largest
vein leading to it had been sliced open by that seemingly insignificant piece of metal.

"It would have been easier to fix his heart," Goldberg said.

The hardest part of the job

There is no good way to tell a family their loved one has died. Goldberg has done it dozens,
perhaps hundreds, of times over the years. Each time is a separate agony.

"I practice over and over again," she said.

     She tries not to take her work home with her, she said, but each death stays with her for weeks
     afterward. She and her team break down what happened, try to figure out what they could have
     done differently or better. Despite having seen this so many times, she still remembers the details
     of cases from long ago.

     "I guess every death stays with me in some way," she said.

     While the other team members sewed the teenager's chest shut with black stitches, Goldberg
     walked out of the operating room alone. She took off her mask and gloves, pulled the coverings
     from her shoes, then began washing her hands. She scrubbed hard, until her skin was red.

     "We're going to have to tell his family their little boy is dead," she said.

     She wasn't sure what she would say. Experience had taught her that people want her to be direct:
     They don't want sweet words. They don't want long stories. They just want to know.

     Still, before the family arrived, Goldberg paced in the hall, her head down, wondering which words
     she would use. She practiced possible openings on another doctor. Should she give many details
     of the surgery? Should she talk about how he'd fought to live? Should she tell him how they'd
     fought to save him?

     But in the end, when she met with the teenager's stepfather in a small private room, she kept it
     simple. She looked up into his eyes, took his hand, and told the man that his boy hadn't made it,
     that his boy wasn't coming home.

     "I'm very sorry," she said.

How would you feel if this were your mother?

Discuss the different impacts of the gun violence across each of the
levels described in this article.

Homework: Week 4

Part 1: Review the article “You Wouldn’t Snitch Either.” Imagine that this
happened in your neighborhood and you were a witness. Write an essay on how
you would handle the situation. Start by describing what you saw. Then explain
how you should handle the situation. Who should you tell? Should you go to the
police? Then tell what you would really do in this situation? If the police
questioned you, what would you say? Would you tell the truth or would you lie or
act like you didn’t see anything to protect yourself? What would you do if you
were the only person to see what happened?

Part 2: Imagine you are the shooter in any of the stories you read in group.
Write a letter of apology to the mother in the story.

Read the Following Article

                                       You Wouldn't Snitch Either
                                    Police say dozens of people were on Sigel Street when
                                      a bullet struck a 4-year-old girl. No one has come
                                           forward. Would you have? Are you sure?

                                                       by Kia Gregory

                                     On Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at around 7:15
                                     p.m., Nashay Little, 4yrs, was playing outside
                                     on the street in the 2100 block of Sigel Street
                                     in South Philadelphia when she was struck in
      the leg by a bullet fired by an unknown person who was engaged in a gun
      battle with another man. This happened in broad daylight and when the
      street was occupied with onlookers. We are hoping that someone will take
      advantage of this anonymous tip form to share their information about this

      —a posting on the Philadelphia Police Department website

      The 2100 block of Sigel Street is a narrow stretch of tightly packed row
      homes. It's a block where on a sun-soaked Thursday afternoon in early
      summer, neighbors set up water ice stands and kids splash in an inflatable
      pool. It's a block where little girls sit on a step and giggle over a notebook,
      and where a little boy runs to the corner store for a soda.

It's a block where boarded-up houses are overshadowed by pretty ones,
where neighbors celebrate children's graduations by putting their pictures
in the window, and where one front-door sign proclaims: "JESUS IS

It's a block where neighbors congregate on front steps, and kids play in
the street all day.

It's also a block where, not too far away, there are shootings, and where
less than a month ago, when a stray bullet critically wounded a 4-year-old
girl who was playing outside, no one said a word.

Her name was Nashay Little.

Police say dozens of people were on the 2100 block of Sigel Street when
the bullet hit Nashay, and she collapsed in front of the house that she and
her mother had been visiting.

"Everybody knows what happened," says a Sigel Street neighbor, sitting
on his step. "If they're not going to say anything, why should anyone

"It's not that people don't want to talk to the police," says another neighbor
who'll identify himself only as Mr. M. "But you still have to live here."

Mr. M is holding court across the street from where Nashay was shot. The
group grows as neighbors stop to offer their sad, fractured thoughts—like
how it's always the innocent babies who get it, and how half the parents
are scared of their own kids.

"Everybody feels sorry for that family and that little girl," says Mr. M. "But if
you start running your mouth, those cats are gonna find a way to get at
you or someone you love. Today's snitches are going to the grave."

The neighbors recall their own dead.

A nephew, 18, shot five times in the head over a turf war.

Another nephew, this one 20, shot in the back of the head on his way
home from the store.

The woman on the corner who lost two sons in two months.

Gregory, 18, was shot and killed over a football game as he got off the bus
near a mobile police station.

Asked what it would take for him to come forward with information about
who shot Nashay, Mr. M stares straight ahead.

"Nothing," he says, finally.

It's not cold indifference or brotherhood with criminals that explains the
silence on Sigel Street. It's fear—paralyzing fear—due to the bitter reality
that cops are unresponsive, the criminal justice system is a revolving door,
and snitches often get killed.

Neighbors here are desperate for a safer community. But in the meantime
they have to protect themselves and their families.

If you lived on the 2100 block of Sigel Street, they say, and you knew what
they knew about how life and death works here, you wouldn't snitch either.

investigate gun violence. Nashay is his youngest shooting victim.

Lucke says police have received all kinds of information from calls and
anonymous tips.

Two weeks after Nashay was shot police arrested a 15-year-old suspect.
But Lucke adds that police are still looking for another suspect as well as

"We're not satisfied with the response from the community," he says. "This
is a case that can be solved very easily if just one or two eyewitnesses
come forward. It's not very complicated. Everybody in the neighborhood
knows what happened. We know what happened. We just need the
people who saw it to stand up."

Lucke and his team have knocked on every
door on the 2100 block of Sigel Street.
They've been greeted by people peeking back
at them behind locked doors and others who
ask incredulously, "Why should I help you?"

From his years on the force, Lucke says he
knows that today's victim is tomorrow's
shooter, and vice versa, and that kids who get
away with shooting somebody once will do it
again and again.

He's seen victims refuse to say who shot them and cases where people
have been paid or threatened into not testifying.

He knows the people on Sigel Street are afraid. He understands why
someone wouldn't come forward when, for example, a drug dealer shoots
another drug dealer. What's the point?

But this was a 4-year-old girl.

"There were at least five, six people who know exactly what happened,"
says Lucke. "If you're going to stand up for something, stand up for a little

In many of our city's communities—many of them gripped by gun
violence—there's a cold fear of the police.

Fear that police don't protect witness confidentiality.

Fear that when you call 911, your name and number appear on the caller
ID, and that makes you vulnerable.

Fear that the cops will come and park their blue-and-white car right in front
of your house and knock on your door in full uniform, thus alerting the
neighbors, the drug dealers and the shooters there's a snitch inside.

Four years ago, at the height of Operation Safe Streets, police flooded the
city's high-crime and open-air drug areas. Then, earlier this year, the
mayor and the police commissioner toured church pulpits to announce
Operation Safer Streets, which focuses on "smarter policing, community
engagement, social services and gun reduction" in the city's designated
hot spots.

Over the last two and half years the number of cops patrolling Philly's
streets has been reduced by 700. The lack of police presence has one
Sigel Street resident so angry he says the cops are "full of shit." Another
says the police commissioner came and visited the neighborhood only to
use the crime scene as the backdrop for a "bullshit-ass" press conference.

"She isn't the first person around here to get shot," says an anonymous
Sigel Street resident about Nashay Little. "We've been saying this
neighborhood was crazy."

At community meetings throughout the city, terrorized neighbors testify
about the need for more cops. They say the return of cops walking the
beat would flip the script, making neighbors feel safe and thugs leery.

"When people say the only way we can be safe is by putting more cops on
the street," says police commissioner Sylvester Johnson, "what they're
saying is they're giving up."

Asked about the fear that keeps witnesses
silent, Johnson offers the city's witness
relocation program, and compares the "don't
snitch" mentality to the valor of past civil rights
workers and soldiers who risked their lives for
a greater good.

"I've told them numerous times," Johnson
says of potential witnesses, "that there's more
danger having this person still in the
community than if he were incarcerated. If we
in the Afro-American community cannot stand
up and protect our children … and we accept
people and call them brothers when they're
murderers … unless the community stands
up, this will continue to happen."
                                               Police plea: Commissioner
Johnson says fear is an excuse.                  Johnson held a press
"I think they have a moral obligation,"
says Johnson of potential witnesses. "I
was at the hospital with the 4-year-old child fighting for her life, who did no
more than just go out there and play. I was at the hospital the day Faheem
Thomas-Childs was shot, who did no more than go to school with
schoolbooks to

learn. Either our children are going to benefit from our strength or they'll
suffer from our weakness."

But Patrick Carr, a Rutgers sociology professor, says more must be
offered to witnesses than simply calling them out.

"The thought that people are unwilling because they're of dubious moral
character is just plain wrong," says Carr. "We get to the point where we
want to give up on certain areas. That's something we absolutely cannot
do. We give criminals the ability to control the roost. That's so wrong it's

On the 2100 block of Sigel Street, neighbors say they're not the ones
who've given up. It's the law enforcement system that's quit on them.

"These muthafuckas out here are ruthless," says Sigel Street resident Mr.
M. of the thugs who do the shootings. "They're not playing, and when the
shit hits the fan, ain't no cops out there to protect you."

Neighbors say a cop car sat on their block the night after Nashay's
shooting and through the next day.

On this recent day a police car remains on the corner. Asked if the police
presence is helping, the neighbors gathered on the steps collectively
shake their heads in disgust.

"They were just shooting the other day outside the school," one woman

"Drugs and crime go where there's the least enforcement and resistance,"
says top cop Sylvester Johnson. "And when you have a community that
doesn't resist, then it's going to continue."

The neighbors on Sigel Street agree with Johnson on this point.

"They need to get the guns off the street, and start putting these guys
behind bars," Mr. M says.

"Mm-hmm," says another neighbor.

"Until then," says Mr. M, "it's not going to stop."

In the days after Nashay Little's shooting, antiviolence activists showed
up on Sigel Street to urge residents to get involved.

One campaign called Step up, Speak Up encourages the reporting of
violent crime, and educates witnesses on making anonymous tips.

It's hoped the effort will counter the "STOP SNITCHIN" movement that's
been promoted on T-shirts and baseball caps, and that's been used to
keep witnesses silent amid the city's raging gun violence.

"It's not a very complicated program," says Jerri Williams, the campaign's
FBI representative. "The whole purpose is to encourage people to come
forward when they have information about violent crime."

The story of Dorothy Johnson-Speight, founder of the antiviolence group
Mothers in Charge, inspired the program.

Johnson-Speight's son was shot seven times by a man who'd been seen
by witnesses committing another murder five months earlier. No one had
come forward.

"Hopefully people will get ingrained with our logo," says Step up, Speak
Up's Williams. "The first thing that should jump into their mind is, 'Should I
step up and speak up?' We don't care if it's a question. At least they're
asking, as opposed to saying, 'I didn't see anything, and I'm walking

But to many Philadelphia neighborhood residents, the program might just
as well be called Step up, Speak up, Get Killed.

"They're very well named, but that may be about it," says Councilman Jim
Kenney, who recently proposed a $2.5 million witness protection program
for city residents. "We need to get really serious about this problem of gun
violence and murder and witness intimidation or many neighborhoods in
our city are not going to be livable."

"We have to put more meat behind all this," Carr says. "We have to say, if
you step up, the whole system is going to step up with you."

Carr says there was a failure to capitalize on the city's collective outrage
two years ago when 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs was shot and
killed outside his elementary school. Another failure occurred when six
prosecution witnesses recanted at his murder trial.

Now there's another victim.

The Nashay Little case offers further proof that the system can't rest in its
effort to persuade witnesses to step up.

"It's not just moral, what's right and what's wrong," Carr says. "It's much
more complex. Until you've lived that complexity and have been faced with
that dilemma, you really don't know."

At the same time, says Johnson-Speight of Mothers in Charge, on any
given day witnesses come forward and justice is served. She tells of a
mother in her group who turned her son in to police after he accidentally
killed an 8-year-old while he was shooting at his father. Johnson-Speight
says if the media focused more on people who are doing the right thing,
others would be willing to do the same.

But then she mentions another mother whose son graduated from high
school last June and was murdered the following month after witnessing a
violent crime. It's those cases that make headlines and keep witnesses
locked in silence.

"Where are the people who live in those communities?" says Williams of
the Step up, Speak Up campaign. "The mothers should be screaming and
yelling. The fathers, the aunts, the uncles, more people should be saying
this can't be done, and the best way to say this is to call and report violent
crime when they see it."

"I understand people's fear," Johnson-Speight concedes, "but at the same
time we're still not safe when we allow criminals to remain on the street.
Who knows who the next person will be?"

Since the shooting of 4-year-old Nashay Little, the 2100 block of Sigel
Street has been quiet. But the question of how to end gun violence in the
city still screams loudly.

The residents of Sigel Street say you have to build faith into the system.
To do that you have to improve it. You have to go beyond catchy slogans

initiatives and make simple, long-lasting, even radical changes to its

The ideas that spin out of the group's conversation seem simple enough.
They want more cops to develop strong, close relationships with the

They want the city to get the illegal guns off the street.

They want to see criminal justice at work in their communities instead of
thugs returning to the street.

Until the city moves beyond the failure of witnesses to come forward, and
starts looking at our institutional failures, gun violence will continue.

And life on narrow little streets like the 2100 block of Sigel will keep going
to hell, says Mr. M. "Literally."

































Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                   Facilitator Signature      Date

Session 5: Risk

Session 5: Risk Factors
Objectives of today’s group:

     - Warm-up/review group expectations
     - Review homework from last week
     - Develop an understanding the risk factors for committing
       acts of gun violence
     - Set homework for next week
     - Wrap Up

To carry or not to carry, that is the question…

Research has shown that violence among adolescents has
increased over the years, but there is no clear answer as to why
this has happened. Why do some adolescents become
involved with violence and some do not? Why do some
adolescents decide to carry a gun while others do not? Taking
a look at risk factors and protective factors may help provide a
better understanding

Exercise: Why do some people carry weapons?

We’ve talked a lot about the impact of gun violence from the
victim’s perspective, but what about from the perspective of the
person carrying the gun? What are things like for this person? List
all of the reasons for carrying a gun.

1.                                   5.

2.                                   6.

3.                                   7.

4.                                   8.

Next, list the negative consequences that can result from carrying
and using a gun. A participant can volunteer to write the responses
of the group on the board. Keep listing the consequences until the
list is fairly extensive. Identify consequences for the victim as well as
for the perpetrator.

  Consequences for the Victims

  1.                                   8.

  2.                                   9.

  3.                                   10.

  4.                                   11.

  5.                                   12.

  6.                                   13.

  7.                                   14.

  Consequences for the Perpetrator

  1.                                   7.

  2.                                   8.

  3.                                   9.

  4.                                   10.

  5.                                   11.

  6.                                   12.

Questions to consider:

Do the reasons for carrying a gun outweigh the potential costs? Why
or why not?

On the list of reasons for carrying a gun, discuss how each of these
needs can be met in other ways.

What do you think are some activities that youth get involved in that
could eventually lead them to carry a gun or commit acts of

Do you think family environment has anything to do with whether or
not one eventually ends up carrying a gun?

For a youth that carries a gun, what is his attitude toward school?

What is his peer group like?

What might his neighborhood be like?

Risk Factors – Protective Factors

       All the things that you have discussed are called violence risk
factors. These are things that increase the chance that a youth will
commit acts of violence. So if we were able to see into the
background of a teenager who carries a gun, we will most likely see
at least some of the risk factors you mentioned, as well as some others
listed in table 1. A risk factor in of itself does not mean somebody will
definitely commit an act of violence. However, the more risk factors
that a person possesses, the more likely that he or she will commit a
violent act.

      Protective factors are the opposite of risk factors. A protective
factor is something that decreases the risk that an individual will
commit a violent act. The more protective factors that a person
  possess, the less likely that he or she will do something violent. See
  table 1 for a list of protective factors.

Table 1. Risk Factors and Protective Factors

                                            Risk Factor
  Domain                   Early Onset                       Late Onset                  Protective Factors*
                           (age 6-11)                        (age 12-14
                 -   General offenses                - General offenses                - Intolerant attitude
                 -   Substance use                   - Psychological condition              towards deviance
                 -   Being male                         o Restlessness                 - High IQ
                 -   Aggression**                       o Difficulty concentrating     - Being female
                 -   Psychological condition            o Risk taking                  - Positive social orientation
                        o Hyperactivity              - Aggression**                    - Perceived sanctions for
  Individual     -   Problem (antisocial)            - Being Male                           transgressions
                        behavior                     - Physical violence
                 -   Exposure to television          - Antisocial attitudes, beliefs
                        violence                     - Crimes against persons
                 -   Medical, physical problems      - Problem (antisocial)
                 -   Low IQ                             Behavior
                 -   Antisocial attitudes, beliefs   - Low IQ
                 -   Dishonesty                      - Substance use
                 -   Low socioeconomic               - Poor parent-child relations     - Warm, supportive
                        status/poverty               - Harsh, lax, discipline; poor        relationship with
                 -   Antisocial parents                 monitoring, supervision            parents or other adults
                 -   Poor parent-child relations     - Low parental involvement        - Parents’ positive
                 -   Harsh, lax, or inconsistent     - Antisocial parents                  evaluation of peers
  Family                discipline                   - Broken home                     - Parental monitoring
                 -   Broken home                     - Low socioeconomic
                 -   Separation from parents            status/poverty
                 -   Abusive parents                 - Abusive parents
                 -   Neglect                         - Family conflict**
                 -   Poor attitude, performance      - Poor attitude, performance      - Commitment to school
                                                     - Academic failure                - Recognition for
  School                                                                                    involvement in
                                                                                            conventional activities
                 - Weak social ties                  - Week social ties                - Friends who engage in
  Peer           - Antisocial peers                  - Antisocial, delinquent               conventional behavior
  Group                                                 peers
                                                     - Gang membership
                                                     - Neighborhood crime,
  Community                                          - Neighborhood

 * Age of onset unknown
 ** Males only

What risk factors are within your control and which ones are not?

What can you do about the risk factors that are within your control?

For a youth that decides to refrain from violence, and does not carry
a gun, how might his life be different?

What activities might he be involved in?

What might his neighborhood look like?

What might his friends be like?

There are some youth who have many of the risk factors, but never
pick up a gun. There are also some who seem to have an ideal life,
but choose to carry a gun every day? Why do you think this

Homework – Week 5

Review the list of risk and protective factors that were discussed
during group. Think about how many of these apply to you. Write
an essay describing how these factors have affected your life and
the choices you have made. How have these factors influenced
your decision to carry a gun or to think about carrying a gun? How
can you counteract these risk factors to lead a life where you do not
feel the need to carry or use a gun?


























Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                 Facilitator Signature        Date

 Session 6:
What You Can

Session 6: What You Can Do
Objectives of today’s group:

  -   Review group expectations
  -   Review/discuss homework
  -   Learn about what you can to do prevent gun violence
  -   Set homework for next week
  -   Wrap Up!

First, what do you think?

Finish the Following Quote:
Guns Don’t Kill People…..

What does this quote mean to you?

If tomorrow, legislators banned the use of all guns, would that end all
violence? Why or why not?

If there were no weapons of any other kind available, would there
be no more violence?

What else could be used in place of these guns and other

When you take away all of these means to commit violence, people
would be left with………..their own thoughts, beliefs, and values.

If you are not willing to examine your own thoughts, beliefs, and
values; gun violence will continue to be a problem.

What can you do individually to prevent gun violence against
yourself and others?

Teen hurt in shooting at Sayre High
Feud suspected in gunbattle

Joseph Donnelly was parking his car behind William L. Sayre High School in
West Philadelphia yesterday morning when he heard the first gunshot.

He flung open his car door and hurled himself to the ground. Immediately, a
barrage of bullets chewed through the air just feet away as Donnelly tried to
disappear into the pavement.

"There wasn't a chance to be scared," said Donnelly, construction manager of a
$12 million renovation at the school. "It was just: 'How do I get closer to the
ground?' "

When the gunfire subsided, one Sayre student lay bleeding and seriously
wounded, while his attackers – who police believe were three other Sayre
students - escaped on foot.

Detectives believe the shooting erupted from an ongoing territorial feud between
neighborhood teens from 56th Street and others from 60th.

The 8:25 a.m. incident, which prompted a daylong lockdown at Sayre and at a
nearby church-run day-care center, left some shaken school officials thanking
fate for its timing.

"Just imagine if this had happened a half-hour earlier," said district chief
executive Paul Vallas, referring to the 680-student school's 8 a.m. starting time.
"It could have been a much more tragic situation."

The school parking lot, off 59th Street near Locust, was mostly empty when three
teenagers confronted a Sayre sophomore and began blasting away.

"I heard... seven or eight gunshots," said John Ingram, 37, who lives around the
corner from the school. "It sounded like a little baby cannon. It was loud, though,
and it got me out of bed. I said: 'That was too close!' These young kids done got
out of control."

Crime-scene workers later determined at least 11 shots had been fired, possibly
from more than one gun. That number of bullets indicates the attack was "victim-
specific; it's not a random act," said Capt. Michael J. Sinclair, commander of
Southwest Detectives.

Although several video cameras mounted on the school pointed at the shooting
scene, the cameras - part of an ongoing security upgrade - weren't yet wired or
working, Vallas confirmed.

A silver 9 mm semi-automatic Ruger had been discarded next to a nearby utility
pole, cocked and presumably loaded, Sinclair said.

Donnelly told police he had seen the 17-year-old victim pull a pistol from his
waistband and hand it to a teenage girl, who fled with it. Detectives were trying
yesterday to identify that girl.

Investigators planned to dust the abandoned gun for fingerprints and do gun-
powder-residue tests on the victim to determine whether he had fired a weapon,
Sinclair said.

The victim, identified by a police source as Tariq Hannibal, had surgery
yesterday at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for wounds to his leg and
buttocks, Sinclair said. Detectives also were probing whether a Tuesday shooting
was related to yesterday's violence.

In that case, a 19-year-old man showed up at a local hospital with gunshot
wounds. He told police he had been shot in Sayre's schoolyard about 4:30 p.m.
While Sayre security officers confirmed they'd heard gunshots, city police found
no evidence to pinpoint the shooting scene, Sinclair said.

Joseph Golden, the district's chief safety executive, lamented yesterday's
violence as another "disturbing example of the pervasiveness of gun violence in
the city."

Vallas used the incident to demand tighter gun laws.

"The joke around town is: Sometimes it's easier to get a gun than a book," Vallas
said. "Clearly the [gun-control] laws need to be tougher."

Parents also play a pivotal role in ensuring students' safety, Vallas added. "I
always say: 'Feed and frisk.' Make sure the kids are fed when they get home
from school, and make sure you frisk them on their way to school," Vallas said.
"Parents have to take responsibility that when their kids are on their way to and
from school, that they have the appropriate things with them."

So far this school year, from September to yesterday, 10 firearms have been
found in or around schools, said district spokesman Fernando Gallard. He said
seven weapons were found in schools, two on school property and one on the
highway outside a school.

That number is up from six firearms found in or around schools in all of the 2005-
06 school year, Gallard said, when three weapons were found in schools and
three on school property.

School officials planned to send letters home to parents yesterday about the
incident. They also beefed-up security for the day and crisis intervention teams
were available to counsel frightened students, Golden said.

But one neighbor predicted that tightened security would do little to curb violence
around Sayre. "This is not unusual for this neighborhood," said Freida

     McClendon, a mother who sends her two teenagers to private schools because
     she feared for their safety at Sayre. "This is an everyday thing. They fighting all
     the time out here."

     Overhead, a detective walked across the roof of her rowhouse and five others,
     hunting for any gun-cartridge casings that might have landed there during the

     Before she shut and locked her door on the crime scene outside, McClendon
     said: "I'll have to get barbed wire on my fence now."

If you knew that someone in your school had a gun and was
planning to use it, what would you do?

What could happen if you ignore it?

How would you feel if you ignored it and later found out that your
little brother or sister was shot and you could have prevented it?

Make a list of people you could talk to if you decided to report the





What if you are afraid that someone will know that you snitched?

Preventing Gun Violence in the Schools

    SPEAK UP Campaign

    Call 1-866-SPEAK-UP to report a weapon threat at school.

    If you know about a student carrying a weapon at school, or talking about bringing a
    weapon to school…

    If you hear someone threatening violence with a weapon…

    If you know about someone’s plans to hurt anyone at school…

    Call 1-866-SPEAK-UP.   That’s 1-866-773-2587.

    Don’t ignore it. Don’t assume it’s a joke. No threat is a joke.

    Don’t try to solve the problem yourself.

    Tell a trusted adult at school or call 1-866-SPEAK-UP to anonymously report the threat.

    The call is toll-free. Your tip will be transcribed and forwarded to the proper local
    authorities so the threat can be resolved safely. In case of an immediate emergency,
    please call 911.

    You have the power to prevent school violence by just reporting weapons or threats of
    violence at school. Use your voice.

    Call 1-866-SPEAK-UP. It’s anonymous and free.

Real Stories

Missy Jenkins
On December 1, 1997, then 15-year old Missy Jenkins was seriously wounded in the
shooting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, which resulted in three
students' deaths. Missy spent five months recuperating in a hospital and remains paralyzed
from the waist down. She later discovered that her neighbor and friend had known of the
shooter's plans beforehand, but did nothing. Missy has since become active in promoting
the SPEAK UP message to young people across the country to help prevent tragedies like
the one that occurred at her high school.

Celia McGinty
In September 2004, after an acquaintance told her that he planned a Columbine-like
massacre at his school, Celia spoke up. The investigation that followed uncovered Nazi
paraphernalia, stolen rifles, including an AK-47 assault rifle, bomb-making devices,
hundreds of rounds of ammunition and hunting knives. Celia's courage undoubtedly
prevented a senseless tragedy and the loss of innocent lives.

Crystal Miller
Crystal was a junior at Columbine High School in 1999, the year that two students opened
fire on the school and killed twelve of her classmates and one teacher. She was in the
library studying for a test when two boys rushed in with guns and she hid there under a
table while they shot many people around her. Crystal survived because the attackers ran
out of ammunition. The events of that day changed her life. Now twenty-four years old,
Crystal travels around the country fulltime, telling her story at schools, community centers
and churches. Crystal is committed to empowering young people and giving them tools to
prevent similar tragedies in their own communities.

Francisco Rodriguez
In his senior year of high school, Francisco decided to do something about the violence
that plagued his community in New Jersey. Along with a group of classmates, Francisco
wrote, produced and edited a 30-second public service announcement to promote the
SPEAK UP message and 1-866-SPEAK-UP hotline. Since then, Francisco has remained
actively involved in working to prevent violence in schools. With his friends, he travels to
schools throughout the area to talk with students about the importance of speaking up and
keeping schools safe.

Michelle Houde
Michelle and her best friend found out that a boy had photos and detailed sketches of an
attack he was planning at school. They reported what they knew. It turned out the boy
was going to attack the school early the next day. Michelle's quick thinking saved countless

Josh Stevens
Josh was 15-years-old when his friend Andy Williams told him about his plan to attack his
school. Josh assumed he was just joking. The next day Andy brought a gun to school and
opened fire, killing 2 students and wounding 13 others. Josh says that not reporting Andy's

      threat was a mistake he will regret for the rest of his life.

      Kelly Vickery
      Kelly's friend told her that one of their classmates who they had known since middle school
      had brought a gun to school and had given it to someone else. Her friend tried to swear
      her to secrecy, but Kelly did not want her school to be "another Columbine" and decided to
      tell her mother. Together they went to the principal and the boys were taken in and the
      gun was confiscated. Though Kelly struggled with the decision and the fear of being
      ostracized, ultimately her sense of duty prevailed. Kelly prevented a potential tragedy.

      Sarah Hitchcock
      Sarah, an 8th grade student at Olive Peirce Middle School in Ramona, CA, created a public
      service announcement for the SPEAK UP Campaign. She first learned about SPEAK UP
      while watching television so she was excited when her media teacher, Mr. Estrada, gave
      her the opportunity to make her own video project. Because she recognizes that school
      violence could happen anywhere, even in her own school, and that 'figuring out what to do
      about a threat is the hardest part,' Sarah made a PSA advertising the anonymous SPEAK
      UP hotline. The PSA is broadcast every morning in her school and has sparked discussion
      about school violence among her teachers and classmates.

The Speak Up Campaign is a national awareness and educational
initiative that provides students with tools to improve the safety of
their schools and communities. In 81% of school shootings, the
shooters have told other students about their plans before the
attack. Adolescents are also very aware of guns in their community
which are often used in shootings. The Speak Up Campaign allows
you to anonymously report guns in your school or community. This
means that you can report guns or threats of gun related violence
without the person having the gun ever knowing that you made the

Imagine that you could make your school and community safer
without worrying about being labeled as a “snitch”!

Would you consider using this option to report a gun in your school
community? Why or why not?

Homework: Week 6

What are you willing to do to help decrease gun violence? Develop
your own personal plan to keep yourself away from guns. Get a little
more detailed in your plan than saying “I just won’t carry a gun.” This
is a good start, but what else can you do? How can you talk to your
friends and family about guns? How can you raise awareness in your
school and community?



























Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                 Facilitator Signature        Date

Session 7: More
on What You Can

Session 7: More on What You Can Do
                  What Can You and Your Family Do?

Objectives of today’s group:

  -   Review group expectations
  -   Review/discuss homework
  -   Learn more about what you can do to decrease gun violence
  -   Set homework for next week
  -   Wrap Up

Talking Points:

What are reasons for keeping a gun in your household?

What are reasons for not keeping a gun in your household?

Are there currently, or have there ever been, guns in your

What is the main purpose of the guns in your household? (i.e.
protection, hunting)

What are some of the risks that come with having a gun in your

Do you think that the presence of a gun in your home makes you
and your family safer? Why or why not?

Research shows that a gun in the home is over 40 times more likely to
injure or kill YOU, a family member, or a friend than to be used in self
defense. This means that by NOT having a gun in your home, you
are protecting yourself more than if you do have a gun in your home.

       Although many gun owners keep a gun in the home for
       protection, studies show that risks of keeping a gun in the
       home out-weigh benefits. For instance, a gun in the home
       is actually used for self-protection in fewer than 2% of
       home invasion crimes.
Source: Kellermann A et al. Weapon involvement in home invasion crimes. JAMA. 1995; 273:

Are there young children in your household? If so, write down their
names and ages.

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

_________________________________________                       ________

     Statistics show that 25 million American households contain
handguns. Yet, in half of these households, the guns are left
unlocked and loaded. This is especially concerning given that
Children are naturally curious and they usually are aware of the
presence of a gun hidden in the home. Accidental firearm injury
and death in children often occurs as a result of young children
playing or experimenting with a gun. Even if you talk to kids about
gun safety, it won’t ever make a child completely safe around a

Read the following article:

     Talib Bailey-Hankerson, 3
     Ty-Ty died looking down a gun barrel. He was laid to rest
     holding a lollipop.

     Police said that on Oct. 15, about 1 p.m., the child found a
     registered .45-caliber pistol and shot himself in the face. The
     gun and the Raymond Street rowhouse where it happened
     belonged to Dave Walter, boyfriend of Ty-Ty's mother,
     Lawanda Bailey, who lives across the street. Both adults and
     Ty's brother Dejour, 9, were in the house.

     Ty-Ty tore up this little block of Feltonville, and they loved him for it. He'd open your car
     door as you pulled up - but only if he wasn't throwing a ball, trying on somebody's shoes,
     or visiting neighbors.

     "I'm going to miss him pulling my screen door open and running," Lois Fleet said. It's not
     hard for her to imagine Ty-Ty firing a gun "because he was very curious."

     Ramon Crespo Jr. calls Walter "a gentle giant" who'd often play with the children in the
     street, Ty-Ty on his shoulders. Hours after the shooting, Crespo was worried. Walter had
     come home from the police station and locked his door.

     "All I heard was banging... . I kicked the door down and ran upstairs and held him, and
     we stood there crying together... . That's something he's going to have to live with for the
     rest of his life."

     Two nights later, Walter and Lawanda Bailey were surrounded by relatives at her
     mother's home, his arm around her shoulders. Bailey, 27, who is studying to be a medical
     assistant, held a snapshot of Ty-Ty, crumpled because she'd been falling asleep with it.
     Walter, also 27 and soon to be an electrician, said the boy "called me daddy, every day,
     all day." He was proud that Ty-Ty was potty-trained in the last days of his life.

     Some younger family members were "very angry at Dave," said Lawanda's mother,
     Celestine Bailey. "For the most part, the older ones understand that these things
     happen... . You got to forgive each other - and yourself."

Talking Points

What are your thoughts after reading this article?

What if this was your little brother/sister that shot him/herself in the
face? How would you feel?

How would you feel if it was your gun that the child found?

Often we don’t allow ourselves to feel what another person might
feel. But if something bad happens to us or to someone we love, we
may feel intense anger and pain. The feelings others feel are just as
real as what you feel.

The information that we have covered in the sessions thus far gives us a
clear understanding of the impact of gun violence in our lives. Now we will
discuss safe gun storage in the home, although our emphasis is decreasing
gun violence by not having a gun in the first place. Still, we understand that
your parents may already be gun owners, and therefore this information
would be important for you to know. By sharing this information with you, it
is important for you to understand that we are not advocating for guns in
the home.

       Project ChildSafe, The Nation's Largest Firearm Safety
                        Education Program

       Project ChildSafe reminds gun owners to:

   •   Properly store firearms in the home
   •   Practice safe firearm storage options in the home
       anyone --- especially a child.

       Project ChildSafe provides safety kits that include

   •   a cable-style gun locking device
   •   lock installment instructions
   •   safety booklet

      Project ChildSafe encourages gun owners to get a safety kit from
      participating law enforcement partners in their state.

      Individuals, community groups and businesses interested in promoting the
      safe and responsible use and storage of firearms are encouraged to
      partner with a participating law enforcement agency.

      Firearm safety is everyone's responsibility.

      If Your Parents Have a Gun in Your Home

      Many kids are raised with guns in the home, particularly if hunting is an
      important part of family recreation. If your parents keep a gun in the home,
      it's important act in a safe and responsible way around it. To ensure the
      safest environment for your family, your parents should:

  •   Take the ammunition out of the gun.


  •   Lock the ammunition and store it apart from the gun.




Pair up with a peer and practice this role play. Be prepared to
perform the role play during the next session.

      Scenario: You are visiting your sister who has two children, a 6 year old
      boy and a 4 year old girl. While going through the kitchen cabinets looking
      for something to eat you find a revolver that belongs to your sister’s
      boyfriend. You see that it is loaded and unlocked. You know that your
      nephew really likes to play with toy gun and enjoys shooting games on
      PS2. You are very afraid that your nephew will find the gun and get hurt
      or hurt somebody. Your sister’s boyfriend comes into the kitchen. You
      don’t have a beef with him, but you don’t like him very much either.

One person plays the part of the main character, another plays the
part of the sister’s boyfriend. The boyfriend should be moderately
difficult to convince that he should take steps to make it impossible
for your nephew to get the gun.

Talking Points:

What are your thoughts after performing this role play?

Was this a difficult situation for you? Why or why not?

What were your thoughts considering the fact that the gun was
loaded and in your hand as you were being confronted by your
sister’s boyfriend?

Read the next section that provide facts and information for you
and your family to consider for making informed decisions about
having a gun in the home.

     Facts about Keeping a Gun in the Home
     Fifty-seven percent of handguns are stored unlocked, and 55% are
     kept loaded.
     Source: Cook P., and Ludwig J. (1996) Guns in America: Results of a Comprehensive National Survey on
     Firearms Ownership and Use. Police Foundation.

     Twenty percent of all gun owners said they keep their guns unlocked
     and loaded, while 30% of handgun owners keep their guns unlocked
     and loaded.
     Firearms Ownership and Use. Police Foundation.

     Guns kept in homes are 22 times more likely to be involved in
     unintentional shootings, criminal assaults, homicides and suicide
     attempts than to be involved in injuring or killing in self defense.
     Source: Kellermann AL, et al. Injuries and deaths due to firearms in the home. Journal of Trauma, 1998; 45 (2):

     The risk of suicide of a family member is increased by nearly five
     times in homes with guns.

Source: Kellermann A., et al. (1992) Suicide in the home in relation to gun ownership. New England Journal of
Medicine. 267, 3043-3047.

Having one or more guns in the home makes a woman 7.2 times
more likely to be the victim of a domestic homicide.
Source: Bailey, J. (1997) Risk factors for violence death of women in the home, Archives of Internal Medicine.
157(7), 777-782.

Homework: Week 7

This week you learned about the risks associated with having a gun
in the home. You also learned about ways to address those risks.
Take a minute to think about how safe your home is when it comes
to guns. Write down how safe you think your home is. Be sure to
include whether or not there are guns in your home, what the guns
are for (protection, hunting, etc.), and how well they are secured.













Give your home a grade for overall gun safety. Would it be an A, B,
C, D, or F? Why do you give your home this grade?
















What can you and your family do to improve this grade? If there are
no guns in your home, think of another family who has a failing
grade when it comes to gun safety. What could the do to improve
their grade? What will you do to stay safe if you were to go to their













Reviewed and approved by Facilitator:______________________   ______
                                 Facilitator Signature        Date

Session 8: Still
More on What
  You Can Do

Session 8: Still More on What You Can
Objectives of today’s group:

  -    Review group expectations
  -    Review/discuss homework
  -    Share group project with the rest of the group members
  -    Learn more about what you can do to prevent gun violence
  -    Wrap Up!

      So, say you decide that you want to help to make your
community a safer place to live. Easier said than done, right? If you
want to make your community safer, you can’t just sit around and
wait for somebody else to do it, you need to take action. Maybe
you want to do something, but you don’t know where to start. In
today’s group, we are going to discuss some ways in which you can
work with your community to help curb gun violence. To start, here
are some ideas:

      • Volunteer within your neighborhood organization or local
        violence prevention programs to prevent gun violence. If
        your neighborhood doesn’t have one, help start one.
      • Work with the local police to start a community-policing
      • Learn and teach others how to handle conflicts on the street.
      • Campaign for gun violence prevention candidates.
      • Talk to local doctors to see if they will distribute literature to
        their patients regarding the dangers of having a gun in the
      • Clean up your local park, improve lighting, and have
        neighbors form a watch to keep the area safe.
      • Volunteer to talk to children at your local Boys and Girls Club
        about the dangers of carrying a gun.

    • Work to keep extra-curricular activities going at your school or
      community center to provide an alternative to violence.
    • Sponsor a fund raiser in memory of someone in your
      community who has died as a result of gun violence. Donate
      the proceeds to a local gun violence prevention group or a
      community center.
    • Work with local police to start a program to get illegal guns
      off the streets.
    • Work with local officials to organize a gun buy-back program
      to get guns people don't really want anymore out of

Gun Buyback Programs

      Many cities have sponsored gun buy-back programs in an
effort to get guns off the streets. These programs offer cash or cash
cards for anyone who turns in a gun on the designated day, no
questions asked.

    Read the following excerpt from December 2006:

                          NEWS INFORMATION FROM

     City of Harrisburg
     King City Government Center
     Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
     Telephone: 717.255.3040

     5 Dec 2006


     Mayor Stephen R. Reed today said Harrisburg’s gun buyback program will
     resume on Wednesday, December 6, at the city’s two Community Policing
     Centers. New hours of 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. are being implemented to accommodate
     city residents who work during the day and have thus far been unable to
     participate. The program has garnered 290 weapons so far and will continue until
     funds run out. The buyback is not being held today as the supply of cash cards

    were exhausted yesterday and new ones are currently being secured for the
    program’s resumption tomorrow.

    Mayor Reed said the buyback program has been bolstered by an additional
    $10,000 donation from Steven Kusic and National Recovery Agency, a Paxton
    Street debt collection service agency. The program was initially funded by a
    $15,000 Legislative Initiative Grant from State Representative Ron

    Reed said the program is open to any city resident with a working firearm,
    including handguns, rifles and shotguns. Persons turning in weapons receive a
    $100 cash card for each weapon received, no questions asked. The buyback
    program is being conducted at the city’s two community policing centers, located
    at 313 S. 15th Street on Allison Hill, and at 2006 N. 6th Street in Uptown.
    Ammunition is also being accepted for disposal, and anyone bringing in a weapon
    is urged to remove the gun’s bullets if the weapon is loaded.

    The Mayor said thus far 290 rifles, shotguns and handguns have been turned in.
    Reed noted that in its law enforcement work, the city itself has recovered or
    seized 1,460 firearms since 2003, with more being seized every week.

    “Reducing violence on our streets begins with reducing the flow of weapons,”
    said Reed. “We may never be able to completely reduce the flow of weapons to
    the streets, but removing even just one can mean the difference between someone
    living or dying. We strongly encourage residents throughout the city to

    Another successful gun buy-back program is Allegheny
County’s Goods for Guns.

                                      Community House
                                 801 Union Place, Suite 420
                                 Pittsburgh, PA 15212-5523
                                    Phone -412-322-1330
                                     Fax - 412-322-1327

       Committed to Preventing Firearm Death & Injury to Children

Goods for Guns has taken 8,192 operable handguns, rifles and shotguns
off the streets of Allegheny County in the past ten years. It is the longest-
lived program of its kind in the United States and provides a model for the

The above picture shows guns that have been collected through
Allegheny County’s Goods for Guns gun buy-back programs. The guns in
this photo represent less than 5% of the total collected by Goods for Guns
over ten years.

Changing Gun Laws

      One of the most important things you as a citizen can do to
help stop gun violence is to let your elected officials know how you
feel about the issues. All too often, citizen input is only received at
election time, if then. As legislation is introduced and debated, your
voiced opinion can have an important impact on the local, state, or
national level.

     • Ways to contact your elected officials:

     • By phone

     • Person to person by appointment

     • At community events

       ESSENTIALS” later in this section for more information

     • Through e-mail (While email may be easier and faster,
       regular mail gives the elected official a piece of paper from a
       "real person" to carry into committee meetings to reinforce his
       arguments.) See the example taken from The Brady
       Campaign’s website

Your Name & Address {PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THIS!}

The Honorable______________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510


The Honorable______________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Senator___________: (OR) Dear Representative___________:

you're talking about.


experiential or trained expertise that may be useful to legislators.

than "nephrologist."


time, their effort or for their support of legislation.



even phone calls because they show more effort!


Your signature
Your printed name

Sending a Pre-Prepared Letter Through The Internet
Example taken from The Brady Campaign’s website.

Strengthening the National Instant Criminal Background Check System
Since its enactment in 1994, the Brady Law has prevented more than 975,000 criminals and other
prohibited purchasers from buying guns. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System
(NICS), a critical component of the Brady Law, contains records on criminals, drug addicts, domestic
from buying guns.

    1. Complete the form on the left with your information.
    2. Click the Send Your Message button to send your letter to these decision makers:

          Your Representative
                                               Strengthening the National Instant Criminal Backgroun
          * First Name:
                                             Dear [Decision Maker],
                                             I urge you to support H.R. 1415, legislation
                                             introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy, that
          * Last Name:                       would improve the National Instant Criminal
                                             Background Check System (NICS).

                                             Since taking effect in 1994, the Brady Law has
                                             prevented more than 1.3 million criminals and other
          * Address 1:                       prohibited purchasers from buying guns. The
                                             National Instant Criminal Background Check System
                                             (NICS), a critical component of the Brady Law,
                                             contains records on criminals, drug addicts,
          Address 2:                         domestic abusers and others prohibited from buying
                                             guns. However, because many states do not forward
                                             all relevant records, there are many gaps in the
                                             federal NICS - gaps exploited by people who are
          * City:                            prohibited from buying guns.

                                             H.R. 1415 would provide grants and other incentives
                                             to help states forward all relevant records to the
          * State / Province:                National Instant Criminal Background Check System
            Choose a State                   (NICS). This legislation will help keep guns out of
                                             the hands of criminals, terrorists, and other
                                             prohibited purchasers, and make our streets safer.
          * ZIP / Postal Code:
                                             If you have already cosponsored H.R. 1415, thank
                                             you, but if you have not, please do so without
                                             further delay.
          Phone Number:                      Sincerely,
                                             [Your Name]
                                             [Your Address]
                                             [City, State ZIP]
          * Your Email:

             Send Your Message

      Regardless of the method of communication you choose - the
most important thing is to DO IT - and do it NOW. If your elected
official hears from only 10 people on a particular issue, she/he feels
he has been hit by a landslide. Your voice counts.

     Some basic principles about communicating with your

     • It is important to contact your political policymakers early in
       the process, before a bill is passed. Once a bad measure is
       passed into law, it is much more difficult to change the law.

     • It is important to contact your elected officials often on the
       same issue. They face several decision-making points - they
       are asked to be sponsors of the bill before it is introduced,
       they vote in committee, and they vote again in the full
       session. They are under great pressure at each point and
       need your support.

     • Get involved with a group of people with like interests and
       join in common action. There is strength in numbers - and
       more people to share the work!

     • You can't catch flies with vinegar. A firm, friendly approach to
       communicating your opinion is far better than an angry letter.
       Be respectful.

     • Get familiar with the legislative process. Ask for legislator or
       elected official for a "Citizens Guide" to State, Local or
       National government processes.

     • Before contacting any elected official, make sure you
       understand the major points at issue. Tell the elected official
       that these points are important to you. If you are
       communicating about a particular bill, use its name and/or

     • If the contact method you are using is the telephone or a
       personal visit, prepare a short draft of what you want to say
       ahead of time.

     • Tell the elected official that you are a citizen acting out of
       personal interest and concern.

     • Always identify yourself. Being anonymous detracts from your

     • If you want a response, don't forget to give your address

     • Contact your elected official whether they agree or disagree
       with your perspective. Those who agree will be glad for your
       encouragement, while those who disagree need help
       changing their minds.

     • Be brief. A short, concise, to the point statement in your own
       words will beat out a dozen pages of statistics any day.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a bi-partisan coalition of mayor from
across the county who have stepped up to challenge the problem
of illegal guns in the U.S. This group is committed to decreasing gun
violence in this country by stopping illegal guns from getting into the
wrong hands. MAIG recognizes that keeping illegal guns off the
street is not an issue of ideology but of law enforcement and has
united in taking a common-sense approach to fighting illegal guns
at the local, state, and federal levels, while also respecting the rights
of gun-owners. This group is made up of over 150 mayors from more
than 40 states.

The following mayors from Pennsylvania have joined in this effort:

     Allentown – Ed Pawlowski
     Bethlehem – John Callahan
     Erie – Joseph Sinnott
     Lancaster – Rick Gray
     Philadelphia – John Street
     Pittsburgh – Luke Ravenstahl
     Reading – Tom McMahon
     Williamsport – Mary B. Wolf
     York – John S. Brenner

Is the mayor of your city on this list?

If not, what can you do?

                  Are You Willing to Sign the Pledge?

                       I will never bring a gun to school;

         I will never use a gun to settle a personal problem or dispute;

 I will use my influence with my friends to keep them from using guns to settle

  throughout the country, will make a difference. Together, by honoring this
Name: ___________________________________________________________________

Grade: ___________________________________________________________________

School Name: _____________________________________________________________

Signature: _______________________________________Date:_____________________


Shared By: