Gun violence needs to stop
To the Editor,
Gun violence needs to stop. Sometimes people are killed for just going to school or because of their appearance. There are many different types of gun violence.
We need to address kids (17 or younger) being shot. 78 years: That’s how long an average person lives. By shooting a kid, you are taking 69 years of a cheerful life away from them.
A child in North Philadelphia was riding a motorized bike and was shot at the age of 11. This is one out of numerous shocking stories.
Around 15,000 people from ages 0-19 are wounded from being shot, and 3,000 are killed by guns in America each year. This is appalling. We kids need to take action and make this a better place.
Some innocent kids are killed in schools, where you should be safe. But some kids have been sticking up for other kids. They have been having walkouts and organizing protests. One school said that under absolutely no circumstances would they let their students have a walkout. These kids ignored what the superintendent was saying and held a walkout anyway. “I should be in school right now, but we have to stick up for ourselves and say enough is enough of this violence,” said student Bella Graham. After that, 225 kids were sent to detention. (There was even an idea to train teachers to use firearms, but teachers disagreed and that was never followed through with.)
People are also killed because of hate crimes. According to Brady United, the FBI said that “a hate crime is a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” More simply, it is killing somebody because you do not support who they are or what makes them them. Between 2010 and 2016, 56,130 hate crimes have happened involving guns. Hurtful words or actions, that don’t end in murder, can also be hate crimes. Some examples have happened in New York City where people of Asian descent have been assaulted, even if they have not done anything at all.
In 2020 and 2021, because of Covid-19, there have been a lot more hate crimes against people of Asian descent than in the past, which is an outrageous thing.
Do you want your children and grandchildren to grow up in a world with gun violence? If you say yes, you are part of the problem. You need to be part of the solution. If you say no, you are already part of the solution. You need to help those that are part of the problem and don’t think gun violence matters.
Sincerely,
Alyssa Bisordi
Deven Grande
Gwen Satterthwaite
Fifth grade
Swarthmore-Rutledge School