San Jose State students, faculty and staff gathered in front of the Olympic Black Power Statue on Monday to attend the SJSU Day of Action Against Gun Violence event.
San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres, who represents District 3, was one of the speakers for the event.
He said he supports stricter gun laws in light of the countless shootings he has been aware of since his childhood, especially those in schools.
“[Kids] shouldn’t be worried about a crazy person with an AR-15 coming into their school and shooting them up. They should be worried about their homework,” Torres said.
Torres ended his speech with a call for legislators to prioritize the end of gun violence.
“Let’s ban guns, not books. Let’s ban guns, not drag queens. That’s it,” Torres said.
Former assistant district attorney Rolanda Pierre Dixon highlighted another perspective on guns- domestic violence.
Pierre Dixon said during her time at the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office, she established a domestic violence unit after noticing a lack of any strong support for victims.
She also said there is a strong connection between guns and domestic violence.
“Nearly 1 million women alive today have reported being shot or shot at by their intimate partner,” Pierre Dixon said. “If you know someone who is suffering from domestic violence . . . ask them ‘Is there a gun in that house?’ Let them know that their danger has now increased significantly.”
Jessica Blitchok, California Deputy chapter leader for Moms Demand Action, delivered a speech urging people to take matters into their own hands to reduce gun violence.
Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement which gathers community members to collectively act in support of stronger gun laws and responsible gun ownership, according to its website.
Blitchok said students could start by joining a text chain for updates from the local chapter of Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action’s student-led counterpart.
“It is really important that you stay involved and continue to take action because all of our voices matter,” Blitchok said. “The louder our voices get, the more people will pay attention and by people I mean lawmakers.”
Iris Schmidt, SJSU Students Demand Action president, said one of the biggest ways students can help reduce gun violence in the U.S. is by educating themselves and voting.
“When students are educated on what gun policies can do, they can make the best informed decision to protect the community,” Schmidt said.
The event also featured a number of opportunities for student engagement, including interactive murals, crafting activities and informational booths.
The murals, created by SJSU Master of Fine Arts alum John Contreras, was a set of two blank canvases with the questions “What are the solutions to gun violence?” and “What are the causes of gun violence?” painted in bold, black letters.
Markers were set out for attendees to write their answers in the blank spaces.
“Promoting this conversation and actually seeing peoples’ handwriting… it’s very humanizing and everyone deserves to be heard,” Contreras said.
Some common attendees’ responses for solutions included background checks, gun control and education.
On the canvas representing the causes, attendees wrote answers including racism, mental health, pigs with guns and gun culture.
The ‘Soul Boxes’ table provided another opportunity for people to be hands-on.
At the table, attendees were provided with a piece of paper and instructions on how to fold it into a box in 15 minutes.
“The idea is, like, every 15 minutes someone dies as a victim of gun violence,” Schmidt said. “In the 15 minutes it takes you to make that box, you're honoring an individual whose life has been lost.”
The task was inspired by the Soul Box Project, a non-profit organization based in Oregon which encourages the use of art to bring awareness to deaths by gun violence in the U.S., according to its website.
Justice studies junior Vanessa Martinez said she attended the event because she is very aware of the prevalent mass and school shootings in the U.S.
“I’m a justice studies major so it’s something that we talk about a lot,” Martinez said. “I think it’s really important for people to get educated about it and I just think that it should be spoken of more.”
