PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A group of middle and high school students gathered on the campus of Temple University to voice their thoughts to a Pennsylvania U.S. Senator about the city’s gun violence crisis, days after three people were killed late Saturday night on South Street.
Giving the youth of Philadelphia a voice is key to helping bring about change, and that was the idea behind the roundtable discussion with Sen. Bob Casey. He said this generation gives him hope because they are having an impact on lawmakers by pushing them to come up with solutions.
Sixth-grader Giana Perez said schools need more security.
“Some of them have armor on so it’s harder to shoot them if they try to get in, but it’s easier to protect the kids if we have more security,” Perez said.
Fellow sixth-grader Zavier Bonilla is a student at Eugenio Maria De Hostos Charter School. He thinks some civilians’ guns have too much firepower.
“Make the magazines for guns smaller so they can carry less [ammunition], and have less access to rifles,” Bonilla suggested.
His classmate Derrick Harris said it’s time to re-think the Second Amendment.
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“In this day and age, the Second Amendment is not appropriate, because back then the guns were not as advanced,” Harris said.
Kiara Harris is a high school student with the Enough is Enough Students Against Violence Steering Committee.
She said officials need to pay attention to the fact that many of the altercations in the streets start on social media.
“There is a lot of cyberbullying going on,” said Harris. “A lot of fights get posted on social media which result in that, like someone said, ‘Oh, I’m going to put a bullet in this person’s head.’”
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Casey admitted that too many lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have surrendered to the problem and that Americans should not be satisfied with our current state.
He said we can’t throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do.
He strongly believes mental health is a huge part of the issue, but he does not believe that should be an excuse for avoiding further gun control action.
“Some politicians use mental health as an escape hatch not to vote for a background check bill, as a way to say ‘I want to deal with mental health to divert your attention over here’ instead of just saying ‘Why won’t you vote for a background check bill?'” Casey said.
“Vote on a background check bill for one. Vote on an extreme risk protection bill. If someone is posing a danger and it's apparent to their family and community, someone could petition the court and a judge could decide to remove a firearm.”
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Casey hopes they can vote to at least debate a bill that would require background checks and extreme risk protections.
Philadelphia Councilmember-At-Large Isaiah Thomas said it’s important for the voices of our youth to be heard, so they can take action.
“I personally have to do a better job of making sure that we get the information to young people in a way that they can access it,” Thomas added.
Many of the students simply explained that their safe spaces no longer feel safe.
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