Knimrod
12-17-2005, 10:34 PM
End Gun Violence
Youth to help by distributing trigger locks
December 16, 2005
Death or serious injury by gun violence is almost always as senseless as it is tragic -- but never more so than when a young person is shot while playing with a loaded gun.
Detroit received another reminder of the dangers of having loaded guns in a house last week, when 3-year-old Robert Allen Deason III apparently shot himself in the chest with a 9mm handgun in southwest Detroit. He remained in critical condition Thursday at Children's Hospital of Michigan.
Such so-called accidents are particularly heartbreaking because they're so easily preventible by using a trigger lock, or at least unloading the gun. That's one of the messages Neighborhood Service Organization's Youth Initiatives Project and the Detroit Police Department will carry into the New Year's holiday, and throughout 2006, with the Hugs Not Bullets Campaign.
In the last three years, YIP has handed out 5,000 free trigger locks at high schools, community centers and police precincts, and has worked to reduce celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve.
But the efforts in 2006 will include more: a high-profile media campaign, using television and radio, to educate the community about guns, illegal weapons and the culture of violence. Young adults will take anti-violence messages, and trigger locks, into Detroit clubs, concerts and churches.
It's important that young people help lead these efforts. More than 200 members of the Youth Initiatives Project, ages 12-18, have helped organize gun buybacks, led anti-violence rallies, sponsored gun-safety workshops and talked with peers about resolving conflicts.
Young people directly affected by gun violence should be on the front lines of solving the problem. What happened to Robert Allen Deason III should provide plenty of inspiration for them -- and the rest of the state.
Link to article (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051216/OPINION01/512160327/1068/OPINION)
Youth to help by distributing trigger locks
December 16, 2005
Death or serious injury by gun violence is almost always as senseless as it is tragic -- but never more so than when a young person is shot while playing with a loaded gun.
Detroit received another reminder of the dangers of having loaded guns in a house last week, when 3-year-old Robert Allen Deason III apparently shot himself in the chest with a 9mm handgun in southwest Detroit. He remained in critical condition Thursday at Children's Hospital of Michigan.
Such so-called accidents are particularly heartbreaking because they're so easily preventible by using a trigger lock, or at least unloading the gun. That's one of the messages Neighborhood Service Organization's Youth Initiatives Project and the Detroit Police Department will carry into the New Year's holiday, and throughout 2006, with the Hugs Not Bullets Campaign.
In the last three years, YIP has handed out 5,000 free trigger locks at high schools, community centers and police precincts, and has worked to reduce celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve.
But the efforts in 2006 will include more: a high-profile media campaign, using television and radio, to educate the community about guns, illegal weapons and the culture of violence. Young adults will take anti-violence messages, and trigger locks, into Detroit clubs, concerts and churches.
It's important that young people help lead these efforts. More than 200 members of the Youth Initiatives Project, ages 12-18, have helped organize gun buybacks, led anti-violence rallies, sponsored gun-safety workshops and talked with peers about resolving conflicts.
Young people directly affected by gun violence should be on the front lines of solving the problem. What happened to Robert Allen Deason III should provide plenty of inspiration for them -- and the rest of the state.
Link to article (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051216/OPINION01/512160327/1068/OPINION)