Group i: Lena Tesone, Aurora Parlagreco, Laura West, and Eunice Chung

Gun Issue Presentation

2/6/13 Presentation: Issues surrounding guns in Pittsburgh – Guests: Kerry O’Donell (Falk Foundation) Notes

– In Pittsburgh, there are about 1,000 guns taken off the streets every year.
– 77% of guns traced back to white, legal owners – but guns caught by African Americans.
– Guns manufacturers -> the only industry that cannot be sued; no liability
– delay/safety/perception regarding safety storage devices for guns
– no cross-country standard to regulate gun issues. Different laws to constitute a felon leads to uncertainty and loopholes.
– What is the effect of child acces protection laws regarding theft?
– education focus for white suburbia; currently education is sent out to the wrong target group.
– what is the message? who is getting it to? how is it getting there?

2/4/13 Presenting overview of issues – Guests: Vicky (ASK) & Gill Wildman

Feedback from presentations/discussions:
– What would fall into place instead of the gun if the gun was out of the picture?
– Do we value individualism more than our children?
– Why is individual protection so ingrained in our culture?
– What drives the American society to own guns in the first place? > Addressing
– Conversations STOP when someone says “It’s my right.”
– Framing the issue is important – how about the public health?
– What actually changes behaviors?
– Can we focus on the health of community in the scope of guns issues?
– Mythology perpetuated: “You can’t trust the government.” > a reason to own guns.
– Social media to displace guns? > sense of empowerment
– How do guns give people something? How do guns take something away from people?
– Indirect routes of addressing the problem of guns
– Patterns between motivation and scenarios of gun violence
– Consumer protection laws on guns don’t exist
– Drug to gun correlation
– Direct campaigning > looking at specific target audiences to relay messages > no one size fits all campaign
– built in decisions/approaches (i.e. organ donors need to opt out, not opt in)
– Parental concerns for children
– Leader of young black males