Dear Oakland Teenagers who want to make a change in gun violence in the community.

We are writing to you because we want you to know about gun violence in Oakland. We hope that after reading this letter you help the community in fighting gun violence. 

According to our research, gun violence is a problem.

The first problem is that gun laws are not strict enough. I say we should make a law where if you own a gun you could only use it if it’s a life or death situation. Or if we could only have it at surden age. I say these should be turned into a law and if they don’t follow it they should be arrested.

The second problem is the community does not have enough programs to stop gun violence. This shows how we can make more programs for people who were in any actions of gun violence and that the more people join the programs less harm of gun violence they will be. This will also help people get their mindset to the correct path if we had more programs about gun violence since people who are part of gun violence they get bad habits and their minds will be with horrible flashbacks.

Thirdly, the people being harmed or oppressed by gun violence are those who are unexpectedly shot. The shooter benefits from this harm because he/she enjoys it. The level of oppression is institutional because it involves people breaking the law. People that cause harm have made the issue worse because they don’t agree and follow the law.

The community was surveyed about Gun Violence to find out what they knew. We surveyed because of our  school or family members. The number of surveys was 15.

Based on the surveys data it shows that people said that gun violence has  increased by a lot and decreased.

Figure #1:It is titled `people who were involved in gun violence ” It shows that many people who were not part of gun violence which is good because many people who were part of gun violence got a lot of trouble on their mental state but since many were not part of this violence it shows good health on the community. Another fact is that many people will feel more safe out then there will be more interactions and people won’t have to feel danger anymore. This also shows good things since the graph shows us how less people are not part of any bad habits.

Figure #2: The Graph shows how gun violence has increased a lot mostly because of death rates going up. Also that but because everyone nowadays is trying to act hard or have it because they think it makes them cool. But we could change this by making guns harder to sell and stop selling it to young people. 

Figure #3It is clear from the graphs that making guns harder to buy and by using them for emergencies only. Gun violence will decrease if we make this a law or if they just stop selling guns to people.

Based on the Survey and Research as we need to educate people about the issue of gun violence and how they can push the community to make the violence stop. 

Aim 1: Educate

What we’re going to do to advocate and spread the information is make more surveys to get info and make changes to the community.The steps we will take are getting the surveys ready so we can send it to people or family so we can get their opinion.The obstacle we expect are people probably refusing the survey.

My second aim is to make big and small flyers that we can hand out and post up around school or outside of school with information.The steps we will take will be getting a lot of paper so she can do the flyers.An obstacle we will face is people ripping off our posters.

My third aim will be making a lot of billboards and youtube ad’s so people can see them and advocate.First I will make a contract with youtube so I broadcast my message across screens.

explanation.

We would know if we were successful if we see more students spreading the need for more gun laws, community interventions, and true gun violence statistics. 

Thank you for listening. Are you willing to help now? Can we count on you?

Work Cited

“Four Experts on What Has Worked to Curb Gun Violence in Oakland.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Dec. 2019, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/12/whats-driving-the-sharp-decline-of-gun-violence-in-californias-bay-area.

Key facts about gun violence worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/

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September 21, 2020 2:32 am

Dear Robert,
I can agree with you by enforcing a strict law towards guns because there has been so many incidents about innocent people being killed by guns. I also agree that it should be a lot harder to be able to own a gun. One sentence you wrote that stood out for me is “I say we should make a law where if you own a gun you could only use it if it’s a life or death situation. Or if we could only have it at certain age.” I think this is true because this implies to school shooters that are in the ages between middle school and high school. This shows that they have very easy access to be able to have a gun. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because I find it interesting.

Rosie
Rosie
September 14, 2020 3:46 pm

Dear Robert your article is true. But I disagree with that it only happens to Oakland teenagers. If this article is for them to help them out and spread awareness then I understand. My question is why did you get the idea to write about this article?

Dylan
Dylan
September 11, 2020 3:15 pm

Thank you for sharing all this information. It really helps people get to know what is going on around the world. It’s disappointing how your city handles this issue. You wrote this very well and it makes me think you have a personal connection to someone who maybe got injured from guns.

Zoe Nikolopoulos
Zoe Nikolopoulos
September 11, 2020 1:48 pm

Dear Robert,

I agree with EVERYTHING you have written in this article. Perhaps, if you had surveyed a larger amount of people, people from a different area or of different age, you would get more accurate or different data. You wrote, “gun violence will decrease if we make this a law or if they just stop selling guns to people.” I am also a very strong believer that any person should NOT have the right to bear a weapon, such as a gun, unless they have a very good, solid reason to own one (safety purposes, or self-protection). You mention in your article that you would like to increase the voting age and establish stricter gun laws. I wonder…what are you thoughts on background checks. If we work together and establish laws and/or rules that any and all people must go through an entire, in-depth background check before purchasing such weapons, this would decrease the level of gun violence for now, before we can ban guns. This option is very efficient and would be able to solve many issues as well! Thank you for sharing your amazing words! >_<

Shazeb
Shazeb
September 11, 2020 1:44 pm

Dear Robert,
I appreciate this post very much because this is a big problem in our country and its true gun laws don’t restrict people enough. I hear your point that there isn’t enough programs to stop this gun violence to help survivors of gun violence. Also, what i hear you saying is that we can easily prevent gun violence but we choose not to and that if people do get affected we are not helping them enough, is that what you are trying to say? I particularly noticed how the first graph 9 people said that they know someone that has been a victim of gun violence and that astonishes me because i though that would e less and since it is so high it shows we need to do our best to stop this.

Emma
Emma
September 11, 2020 1:36 pm

Hi. I really like how you addressed many communities don’t have enough programs about laws. I also connected to this story because my community experienced a shooting almost 3 years ago. Something in your article that stands out to me is the graphs and statistics you have. I think that that’s super great you have reliable sources. I see that you are trying to raise gun law awareness in your community and nationwide by using flyers and social media.

Sam
Sam
September 11, 2020 1:26 pm

Dear Robert,
I can make a connection with gun violence because around me there is a lot of gun violence awareness after what happen Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. I agree that gun laws need to be changed and be stricter. This post expanded my knowledge about gun violence in Oakland. I noticed the part about guns only being used in a life or death situation, and I agree with you. Did gun violence effect you or someone close to you.

Mateo
Mateo
September 10, 2020 3:58 pm

Dear Robert,
Your article is very true and I believe the same thing, but I don’t think it applies just to Oakland teenagers. Are you trying to say it is a problem everywhere and just trying to raise awareness in that area? I can’t imagine what it would be like in their shoes personally. I believe that you’ve done a great job raising awareness.

September 2, 2020 11:20 pm

Dear Robert
Your story really touched me. I am very disappointed with the people in your city how they handle gun violence because they could be doing a better job preventing gun problems. I believe a step towards stopping gun violence would be by making a law where you could have it at a specific age. Young people shouldn’t use guns noradults. I believe only the ones with a clean record could use it and also people that use for a good purpose. I love how you took your time to add your thoughts on this. You did awesome in sharing with us. I look forward to seeing your future posts.
Sincerely, Rosa Zavala

September 1, 2020 6:01 am

Dear Robert, I agree with you that we should have more stricter gun policy laws. The reason to this is because many teens have not developed you and still have bad habits. This could be a serious problem, we need to set a stricter program to teach those who are yet not developed and prevent them from causing serious problems. We should have programs that teaching young teens or even adults about preventing violence from happening.

Sarah
Sarah
Reply to  Madram ahmed
September 10, 2020 3:58 pm

I appreciate this article very much. I agree with you when you said “ The first problem is that gun laws are not strict enough.” and “ The second problem is the community does not have enough programs to stop gun violence.” This post extended my thoughts on how to fix gun laws and make guns safer. I also really appreciate all the facts you showed through charts. Can you extend on how people like us can help fix this?

Eduardo Diaz
August 31, 2020 4:27 am

Dear Robert, I agree with you that we should have more stricter gun policy laws. The reason why is because I agree that there are many people who are young and have bad intentions. Thats why i believe a step towards stopping gun violence would be by making a law where you could have it at a specific age. I would also like to add that it shouldnt only be the age because there are still a lot of people who have bad intentions at an old age. Thats why they should only be sold a gun if they are old enough and have a clean record. Not only this but i agree with what you said that people should then take gun safety programs. The reason for this so they could educate themselves and know when to use a gun in a life or death threat situation. Sincerely, Eduardo Diaz

Mario
August 24, 2020 11:45 pm

Dear Robert,
I get where you’re going with gun violence is out of control. I agree that owning a gun should be for self defense and nothing more. Not only in Oakland is gun violence bad, but as well as around the world. Safer restrictions should be put in place because everyday someone dies by a gunshot. Some go out in fear with the mindset there might be a chance they might not make it another day.

Cindy Reynosa
Cindy Reynosa
August 24, 2020 7:14 am

Dear Robert, I disagree with this because even if the laws were enforced even more or guns were tried taken away from all harmful hands, our police officers still need them. Our officers need to have a weapon in hand to save their own lives from those who are trying to take them. Even if laws are enforced as much as possible there are still going to be someone with bad intentions out there. These are the reasons i disagree with Roberts statements.

Selena
August 18, 2020 7:47 pm

I enjoyed reading your article on gun violence. I understand the problem in your town of Oakland but it is everywhere else. You are not alone in this situation or your community. I personally never been in this certain situation but I do see you point. Most of these programs are taken for granted and take this information into their own hands. Mishandling is something that has to do with children, young adults, or even adults being able to get hands on a gun doing others harm. Maybe the state or government needs to have more restrictions or little production for the public being sold. We wouldn’t know when it will stop until everyone is satisfied.

Victor
August 17, 2020 4:23 pm

Dear Robert :
I am disappointed on the way your city handles gun violence because they could be doing a better job preventing gun owners to cause harm to others. One way they could do this is do an extensive background check on the person who is owning the weapon.
One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: “The second problem is the community does not have enough programs to stop gun violence. ” I think this is disappointing because they could do random checks on the owner making sure their gun is locked and in safe place. These checks could be monthly to ensure the gun owner is not breaking any laws or mishandling the gun. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next, because I look forward to you showing more of the data collected around your town. This shows you want gun violence to change by showing how your community feels about gun violence.
Victor Vasquez

Gerardo
August 17, 2020 4:13 pm

Dear, Robert I agree with you that gun violence needs to stoo in Oakland and nationwide. You also put some very valid graphs that show gun violence has been going up in numbers. It looks like you were really into this topic. I am looking forward for your next helpful posts.

Sincerely Gerardo

Antonio M Sanchez
Antonio M Sanchez
July 27, 2020 11:50 pm

I like you your story about gun violence but I would like to know why did you want to wtit about that. Did someone in your family got shot or a close friend?

June 4, 2020 12:32 am

Dear, Robert i am touched by this and all your data. I know gun violence can be frustrating and sad. I love how you took the effort to make a post about it and your thoughts on this. You did good. I look forward to seeing your future posts.

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