Gun violence is affecting lots of people and families. We should reduce gun violence because it is hurting and taking lives. Lots of families are harmed because of gun violence. Kids are also getting ahold of guns and hurting themselves or others.

The problem is that there are too many guns in America and some people use them for crime. It is easy to acquire guns because you can purchase them illegally. This is dangerous because if these guns get in the wrong hands then someone can end up getting killed over it or really hurt someone. This hurts the families involved.

In the article “We are losing our children's precious lives to the Gun Violence epidemic” Michael D. Bell, M.D. states “There were 629 children, 0-to-11-year-olds and 2,353 12-to-17-year-olds, shot and killed in 2014. Oakland had a lot of it’s share.” This matters because it shows that there is a lot of people shot and killed. This happen because people have access to guns and they are using them for the wrong reasons.

One thing that might be causing the problem is that people are getting laid off or fired from their jobs. They might turn to crime to be able to take care of themselves and/or their family because that might be their only option.

In the article, “We are losing our children's precious lives to the gun violence epidemic” by Michael D. Bell, M.D. it says “We also must decrease unemployment so people don’t have to turn to crime to eat and survive.” This matters because it shows what might be one of the causes of gun violence and some other crimes too because it shows how if people get unemployed to help their families they might turn to crime.

   One solution is to have police take this problem more seriously so then it can be addressed more and there might actually start to be a change. In the article, “We are Losing our Children’s Precious Lives to the gun Violence Epidemic” by Michael D. Bell, M.D. “If they are not committed to making the police force accountable, then vote them out.” This matters because it basically tells that if the police aren’t taking it seriously to just take them out and bring in police who do take it seriously and that might help decrease crime.

Another solution is that people should have more meetings on the gun violence problem to show that they are taking it more seriously. The article says “On Sat, May 16 Children's Hospital and the Oakland City Council, with Board President Lynette McElhaney as the driving force, will host our firsts annual Stop the Violence Youth Summit. We will speak about solutions to this epidemic and how we can keep our young people safe in their interactions with each other and with the police.”  This matters because it shows how they are gonna have a meeting to see some solutions they can do to help reduce the problem. Meetings are important because then they will already have a plan to help a situation that might come up or have a plan to get rid of the problem and act on it.

The author’s opinion for one solution for gun violence is to get more police. I disagree because I think that they will just add to the problem. My opinion is right because some of the gun violence going on is because of police, like police brutality and how they are killing innocent people with guns. They are basically just as bad as the people committing the crimes.

My evidence of this is the news. It says lots of innocent teenagers were shot by guns and killed, and lots of families and friends were affected. Also in class, we saw that the police shot and killed a man in front of his wife and kids because he said he had a gun.

Oakland needs to try harder to reduce how easy it is to get guns because people use them for the wrong reasons and it is hurting our community. We need to get rid of the problem by trying some solutions like how the article said having more meetings. Calling people to participate in the fight against gun violence.